An 

American  Engineer 

in  China 


By 

Wm.  Barclay  Parsons 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


An  American  Engineer 
in  China 


■     [X, 


fc/. 


An 

American  Engineer 

in  China 

By 

Wm.  Barclay  Parsons 

M 


NEW   YORK 

McClure,    Phillips   &   Co. 

M         C         M 


Copyright,    1 900,    by 
McCLURE,    PHILLIPS    &    CO. 


Preface 


THE  following-  pages  are  designed  to  pre- 
sent a  view  of  China  and  the  Chinese  from 
the  stand-point  of  industrial  development 
as  it  exists  at  present  and  along  the  lines  it  is 
likely  to  follow  in  the  future.  Such  phases  of 
the  Chinese  question  as  the  missionary  problems, 
and  the  causes  and  treatment  of  the  recent  politi- 
cal disturbance,  are  left  entirely  to  be  dealt  with 
by  others,  as,  likewise,  are  all  matters  of  govern- 
ment, internal  and  foreign  politics,  and  personal 
or  national  characteristics,  except  in  so  far  as 
they  may  come  within  the  subject  scope.  In 
the  years  1898  and  1899  the  author  was  in  China, 
under  retainer  of  an  American  syndicate  to  ex- 
amine, survey,  and  report  on  an  extensive  rail- 
way enterprise,  and  the  duties  connected  with 
his  professional  work  placed  him  in  an  excep- 
tional position  to  study  and  observe  this  interest- 
ing country  and  its  people  from  a  quite  different 
point  of  view  from  that  taken  by  other  writers. 
The  journey  made  in  the  course  of  the  survey 
had  a  special  interest,  in  that  it  traversed  Hu-nan, 
that  province  of  China  of  which  the  least  was 
known,  and  presented  the  opportunity,  success- 
fully availed  of,  to  obtain  an  entrance  to,  and  an 

5 


6  Preface 

official  recognition  in,  Chang-sha,  the  one  large 
city  in  China  which  hitherto  had  been  closed  to 
foreigners.  The  author  was  accompanied  by  a 
corps  of  engineers,  consisting  of  Mr.  R.  C.  Hunt, 
Chief  of  Stall,  and  Messrs.  A.  E.  Coulter,  If.  B. 
Magor,  W.  K.  Brice,  and  W.  S.  K.  Wet  more— to 
whom  were  added  Mr.  Charles  Denbv,  Jr.,  as  in- 
terpreter and  manager,  and  Dr.  R.  B.  J  el li son  as 
physician.  Sheng  Ta-jen,  Director  -  General  of 
Imperial  Chinese  Railways,  kindly  attached  to 
the  party  Mi'.  W.  W.  Rich,  his  consulting  engineer, 
and  Woo  Yung-fo,  and  Lo  Kwok-shui,  two  of  his 
secretaries.  The  two  last  mentioned  gentlemen 
had  been  educated  in  the  United  States,  the  latter 
as  an  engineer.  They  both  had  been  recalled  in 
the  midst  of  their  collegiate  studies,  and  subse- 
quently Mr.  Woo  entered  the  Chinese  navy, 
where  he  served  as  flag-lieutenant  to  Captain 
Lang,  R.N.,  at  that  time  acting  as  Chinese 
Admiral.  When  Admiral  Ting  succeeded  Cap- 
tain Lang,  Mr.  Woo  was  transferred  to  the  for- 
mer's staff,  and  stood  at  the  side  of  his  chief  in 
the  conning  tower  of  the  flag-ship  in  the  famous 
battle  of  the  Ya-lu  in  the  Japanese  War. 

The  journey  was  not  without  its  rough  as  well 
as  its  interesting  side,  and  was  one  of. some  con- 
siderable personal  risk.  The  party  was  accom- 
panied  by  a   large  force  of   Chinese  soldiers  for 


Preface  7 

protection,  Chinese  officials  to  indicate  its  char- 
acter, and  a  body  of  coolies  acting  as  porters,  for 
all  stores  had  to  be  carried.  Provisions,  except 
eggs,  fish,  and  fresh  meat,  were  purchased  before 
starting  in  sufficient  quantity  to  maintain  the 
party  in  the  field  for  some  months.  The  articles 
mentioned  above  were  obtained  without  trouble, 
and  usually  as  presents  from  the  local  officials,  the 
meats  consisting  of  buffalo,  sheep,  goat,  deer,  wild 
ducks  and  chicken. 

The  author  desires  to  take  this  opportunity  to 
express  his  sense  of  personal  obligation  to  Their 
Excellencies:  Sheng,  the  Director-General  of  Rail- 
ways and  Telegraphs,  with  whom  the  author  was 
necessarily  brought  into  close  contact ;  Chang 
Chih-tung,  the  great  central  Viceroy,  through 
whose  territory  the  survey  was  made;  and  Wu 
Ting-fang,  China's  able  representative  in  Wash- 
ington ;  to  Mr.  Conger,  the  United  States  Minister 
at  Peking,  the  latter  particularly  for  such  personal 
aid  as  his  official  position  permitted  ;  and  to  Mr. 
John  Goodnow,  United  States  Consul-General 
at  Shanghai. 

Part  of  the  matter  contained  in  this  volume  has 
previously  appeared  in  McClurc  s  and  Engineering 
Magazines  and  Harper  s  Weekly,  and  is  republished 
through    the  courtesy  of   the  respective  editors, 


8  Preface 

although  now  entirely  rewritten  and  enlarged. 
All  the  illustrations  are  from  photographs  act- 
ually taken  on  the  expedition,  and  for  the  most 
part  represent  Chinese  life  as  it  exists  in  the  in- 
terior of  the  Empire. 


NEW  York,   November,   1900. 


46 


A     Table     of    the     Chapters 

Chapter  Page 

I.     China 15 

II.     American   Concession ..44 

III.  Hu-nan,   The  Closed   Province  of  China        .      .      54 

The  Entrance 70 

The  Interior 90 

The  Exit 109 

IV.  My   Chinese  Impressions 127 

V.     Commerce  and   Commercial    Relations        .      .      .148 

VI.     Finances  of  China 181 

VII.     Chinese  Construction 198 

VIII.     Inland  Communication 221 

IX.     Railways 245 

X.     The  Yellow   Peril 286 

XI.     China  in  the  Twentieth  Century 306 


A    List    of    the    Illustrations 


The  American  Engineers  in  the  Field 


Frontispiece 


Stairway  Leading  to  Temple  of  Confucius,  Peking     . 
Carved  Stone  Animals  Lining  the  Road  Leading  to  the 

Ming  Tombs      ....... 

Four  Members  of  the  Tsung-li  Yamen  and  Mr.  Conger 

in  the  Court-yard  of  the  Yamen  .... 
Yang-tze  Kiang,  between  Han-yang  and  Wu-chang 
A  Part  of  the  City  of  Victoria,  on  the  Island  of  Hongkong 

at  the  Base  of  the  Peak      ..... 

The  Last  of  Hu-nan         ...... 

Junks  on  the  River  Han  with  Hankow  in  the  Distance 
A  Group  of  Natives  who  Have  Never  Seen  a  Foreigner 

Before       ........ 

Another  Group  of  Natives         ..... 

Coolies  Waiting  to  be  Employed  as  Carriers 

Coolie  Carrying  my  Bedding     ..... 

A  Yamen  Runner    ....... 

The  Procession         ....... 

Placard  Bearers  who  Preceded  the  Procession  to  Announci 

Our  Coming      ....... 

Chinese  Soldiers  who  Formed  Our  Guard 

A  Chinese  Hsien  Magistrate  and   His  Red  Umbrella,  in 

dicative  of  His  Rank  and  Presence    . 
Main  Court-yard  of  the  Governor's  Yamen  at  Chang-sha 
River  Gunboat  ....... 

A  Peculiar  Custom  by  Chinese  Women  of  Wearing  Heat 

ing-Baskets       ....... 


Fage 
79 


26 
2S 

32 

38 

47 
55 

59 
61 

63 
64 
65 

72 

73 
75 

11 
85 
90 

95 


A  List  of  the  Illustrations 


The  Descent  from  the  Che-ling  Pass  on  the  South  Side 
Two  Faithful  Friends      ...... 

The  Wall  and  Gateway  on  the  Border  between  Hu-nan 

and  Kiang-si     ....... 

A  Bridge  over  Dry  Ground  with  a  Coolie  Climbing  th 

Approach  Steps  on  the  Left        .... 

A  Kwang-tung  Pawnshop  and  Surrounding  Village 
Under  Two  Flags    ....... 

Chinese  and  Manchu  Ladies  of  the  Upper  Class 
A  Neglected  Buddhist  Temple 
Chinese  Graves         .... 

Flags  were  Everywhere  in  Profusion 

General  Liu  Kao-chao  at  Tiffin 

Wall    Along   Yang-tze    Kiang    at    Wu-chang,    Opposite 

Hankow  .... 

Road-side  Shrine  in  Which  Papers  are  Burned 
A  Hu-nan  Farm-house     . 
A  Chinese  Saw-mill 
A  Military  Officer  and  Two  Privates 

"Bell  "Cash 

A  Very  Old  Arch  in  Eastern  Hu-nan,  Previously   In  ex 

plored       ..... 

Ping-hsiang  Bridge 

A  Beautiful  Single  Span  . 

Arch  near  Peking    .... 

A  Small  Bridge        .... 

Wooden  Cantilever  Bridge  at  Li-ling,  over  the  Lu  Ho 
Pagoda  near  Wu-chang  ...... 

Chinese  House  Construction — a  Combination  of  a  Wooden 

Frame  and  Brick  Walls     . 


A  List  of  the  Illustrations 


13 


The  Famous  Wall  of  the  Tartar  City,  Peking,  with  One  of 
the  Gate-towers         ..... 

The  Great  Wall  of  China        .... 

The  Siang  Kiang     ...... 

A  Freight-boat  Being  Poled  Against  the  Stream 

A  Sail  That  May  Have  Seen  Better  Days,  but  Which  is  by 

no  Means  a  Unique  Specimen    . 
A  Female  Skipper   ...... 

The  Equality  of  Sex.     A  Man  and  a  Woman  at  the  Oar 
A  Cantonese  Slipper  B.oat         .... 

Fast  Freight  by  Wheelbarrow  .... 

The  Author  Travelling  in  an  Official  Chair 
Boy  Carrying  Coal  from  the  Mines  to  the  River 
A  Typical  Road  on  Top  of  a  Dyke  between  Rice-fields 
A  Road  Paved  with  Stone  Slabs  Showing  the  Groove  Cut 
by  Wheelbarrows      ..... 

The  "  Rocket  of  China  "  and  Mr.  Kinder 
Khojack  Tunnel  on  the  Sind-Peshin  Railway,  India 
Japanese  Passenger  Train        .... 

Typical  Large  Railway  Station  in  Japan  . 
Typical  Small  Railway  Station  in  Japan    . 
Passengers  Getting  on  a  Train  in  China   . 
Japanese  Railway  Freight  Station     . 
Second-class  Train  on  the  Imperial  Chinese  Railway 
First-class  Train  on  the  Imperial  Chinese  Railway    . 


Page 

214 
2l6 
224 


230 
232 
233 
235 
237 
238 
240 
241 

242 
248 
268 
270 

272 

276 
278 
282 
284 


Chapter 


China 

EVER  since  the  days  when  Marco  Polo 
brought  back  to  Europe  the  seeming  fairy 
tales  of  the  wonder  land  of  the  Far  East, 
the  country  to  which  we  have  applied  the  name 
of  China  has  been  a  field  more  and  more  attrac- 
tive for  commercial  conquest. 

At  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  the 
ever-rising  tide  of  industrial  development  has 
succeeded  in  sweeping  over  Europe,  America, 
the  better  portion  of  Africa,  Western  Asia,  and 
India,  it  is  the  Chinese  Wall  alone  that  resists  its 
waves.  The  movement,  however,  is  irresistible, 
and  not  even  the  exclusiveness  of  the  Chinese  and 
their  extreme  disinclination  to  change  their  ways 
will  be  a  sufficient  protection  against  it.  The  re- 
cent so-called  "Boxer1'  outbreak  will  probably 
prove  to  be  the  death-knell  to  Chinese  resist- 
ance. Whatever  may  be  the  outcome  of  this  out- 
break, in  so  far  as  it  affects  the  government  or 
the  political  integrity  of  the  country,  it  can  be 
predicted  with  safety  that  the  commercial  and  in- 
dustrial life  of  China  will  be  revolutionized,  and 
the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century  will  be 
found  to  mark  the  dawning  of  a  new  era. 

The  present  moment,  when  we  are  about  to 
pass  from  the  old  into  the  new  state  of  things,  is  a 

15 


i''  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


fitting  time  to  survey  the  lie-Id  of  industrial  enter- 
prise  by  examining  into  what  has  been  done,  and 
to  .i-1  i  rtain  the  sorl  ol  foundation  thai  lias  been 
prepared  on  which  the  Chinese  people,  aided  .it 
first  l>\  foreigners,  will  eventually  oi  themselves 
ere<  I  their  own  industrial  structure. 

In  tin-  consideration  ol  this  very  interesting 
land  there  seems  to  be  a  surprise  ;it  every  turn, 
and  one  of  the  mosl  peculiar  is  that  weare  met  at 
the  outsel  by  the  curious  circumstance  that  it  is  a 
countr}  withoul  a  name.  The  Chinese  themselves 
have  no  fixed  designation  (or  their  country,  using, 
as  a  general  thing,  either  the  "Middle  Kingdom," 
or  the  "Celestial  Kingdom,"  or  the  "Great  Pure 
Kingdom.**  The  interpretation  of  the  first  is  that 
tin-  pm] ile  consider  China  to  be  the  centre  of  the 
world,  all  the  other  countries  surrounding  and  be- 
ing tributary  to  it;  although  the  term  probably 
originated  when,  what  is  now  the  Province  of 
Ilo-nan  was  the  central  kingdom  of  several  other 
kingdoms  which  together  formed  a  united  coun- 
try. The  name  "Celestial  Kingdom"  is  a  piece  of 
self-flattery,  the  Chinese  Emperor  being  called  in 
like  manner  the  "  Son  ol  I  leaven  ;  "  while  the  last 
name,  that  of  the  "  Great  Pure  Kingdom,"  follows 
the  designation  of  the  presenl  ruling  house,  which 
styles  itself  the  "  Pure  Dynasty,"  in  contra-dis- 
tinction  to  the  preceding  dynasty  which  it  over- 
threw, and  which  was  called  the  Ming  or"  Plight 
Dynasty."      The  foreigner's  appellation  of  China 


Chapter  I :   China  17 

is  of  uncertain  origin,  but  it  is  supposed  to  mean 
the  land  of  Chin  or  Tsin,  a  family  that  ruled  about 
250  B.C. ;  and  even  this  name  is  used  indiscrimi- 
nately as  covering-  two  areas  very  different  in  size. 
When  we  use  the  word  China  it  may  mean  the 
Chinese  Empire  proper,  the  Empire  of  the  eigh- 
teen provinces;  or  it  may  mean  the  eighteen 
provinces  and  the  dependencies  of  Manchuria, 
Mongolia,  and  Tibet,  whose  bond  of  attachment 
to  the  Empire,  in  strength,  is  in  the  above  order. 
The  eighteen  provinces  comprise  in  area  about 
1,500,000  square  miles,  or  an  area  about  equal 
to  that  portion  of  the  United  States  lying  east 
of  Colorado.  The  shape  of  the  Empire  proper 
is  substantially  rectangular,  extending  from  the 
latitude  of  eighteen  degrees  north,  or  the  latitude 
of  Vera  Cruz,  to  forty-two  degrees  north,  which 
is  about  that  of  New  York.  When  the  depen- 
dencies are  included  under  the  title  of  China 
the  northern  boundary  is  carried  to  the  forty- 
eighth  parallel,  or  say  the  latitude  of  New  Found- 
land,  and  the  whole  has  an  area  of  over  4,000,000 
square  miles,  a  greater  surface  than  that  of 
Europe,  or  of  the  United  States  and  Alaska  com- 
bined. This  great  area  is  reputed  to  support  a 
population  of  upwards  of  400,000,000 ;  figures, 
however,  which,  as  I  will  later  point  out,  are,  in 
my  belief,  a  gross  exaggeration  ;  but  the  bal- 
ance, even  after  the  most  conservative  reduc- 
tions, will  still  easily  be  the   greatest  single  con- 


[8  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


tiguous  conglomeration  ol  people  under  one  rul- 
er.    Racially  speaking,  they  are  a  conglomeration. 

Who  the  Chinese  were  originally  is  not  known. 
It  is  generally  believed  that  they  came  from 
Western  or  Central  Asia,  and,  conquering  the 
scattered  nomadic  tribes  inhabiting  what  is  now- 
China,  seized  their  count  ry. 

In  the  dependencies  and  China  proper  we  find 
distinctly  different  peoples,  with  diverse  customs; 
while  scattered  about  the  Empire  proper  are  set- 
tlements ol  strange  tribes,  whose  origin  is  abso- 
lutely unknown,  but  who  are  believed  to  be  relics 
of  the  aboriginal  inhabitants. 

Lack  of  intercommunication  has  allowed  the 
language  of  the  Chinese  to  become  locally  varied, 
and  to  such  an  extent  that,  although  the  written 
characters  are  the  same,  the  spoken  dialects  of  the 
North  and  South  are  so  different  as  to  be  mutu- 
ally unintelligible.  There  are  said  to  be  in  the 
Empire  proper  eight  dialects,  each  again  being 
many  times  subdivided  by  local  colloquialisms. 
Of  these  dialects  the  most  important  is  the  so- 
called  Mandarin  or  Pekingese,  the  dialect  of  the 
North  and  the  official  language  of  the  country, 
the  one  which  all  government  officials  are  re- 
quired to  learn  and  use.  It  therefore  holds  the 
position  in  respect  to  other  dialects  that  the 
French  formerlv  held  in  Europe  as  the  court 
tongue,  or  language  of  diplomacy  and  officialism. 

Historically,    China    enjoys    the    distinction  of 


Chapter  I :   China  19 

being  the  oldest  continuing  nation  in  the  world. 
Fairly  authentic  records  trace  back  the  course  of 
events  to  about  3,000  B.C.,  so  that  China  rightly 
claims  an  existence  of  at  least  5,000  years.  Re- 
lating to  the  time  previous  to  this  period  there 
is  a  vast  amount  of  legendary  matter,  in  which 
probability  and  fiction  have  not  yet  been  separ- 
ated. 

China's  own  historians,  with  characteristic  con- 
ceit, make  out  their  country's  history  to  be  con- 
temporaneous with  time.  Owing  to  her  seclusion 
and  isolation  from  the  affairs  of  other  nations,  the 
history  of  China  possesses  a  local  rather  than  a 
world  interest,  and  for  the  most  part  is  a  record 
of  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  several  tribes  or  peoples 
composing  the  nation,  each  such  change  estab- 
lishing a  new  dynasty.  However,  there  are  cer- 
tain epochs  of  general  interest  and  certain  salient 
points  in  the  nation's  development  and  growth 
that  should  be  understood  and  kept  in  mind  if 
any  study  of  China  or  of  things  Chinese  is  under- 
taken. 

Accepted  Chinese  chronology  begins  with  the 
reign  of  Fuh-hi,  in  the  year  2852  B.C.  As  to  the 
significance  of  that  date,  it  is  interesting  to  note 
that  it  is  200  years  before  the  rise  of  the  Egyptian 
monarchy,  500  years  before  that  of  Babylon,  and 
precedes  the  reputed  time  of  Abraham  by  a  period 
almost  as  long  as  the  whole  record  of  English  his- 
tory from  the  conquest  to  the  present  time. 


An  American  Engineer  in  China 


In  the  Chau  Dynasty,  which  lasted  from  B.C. 
1 122  to  B.C.  249,  we  find  the  great  period  in  Chi- 
nese literature,  an  era  comparable  with  that  oi 
Elizabeth  in  our  records.  In  550  B.C.  Confucius 
was  born,  whose  philosophical  reasonings,  ow- 
ing to  the  long  time  he  antedated  the  spread  of 
Christianity  and  Mohammedanism,  have  affected 
the  thought  of  more  human  beings  than  the  writ- 
ings or  sayings  of  any  other  man,  with  the  possi- 
ble exception  of  Buddha. 

Although  Confucius  is  the  central  figure  of  the 
epoch,  there  are  at  least  two  other  men  sub- 
stantially contemporaneous  with  him,  who  are 
only  a  little  less  prominent :  Liao-tze,  who  pre- 
ceded him  fifty  years,  and  Mencius,  who  followed 
him  one  hundred  years.  The  former  was  a 
religious  philosopher,  on  whose  writings  has 
been  founded  the  doctrine  of  Taoism.  This  phi- 
losophy is  based  on  Reason  (Tao)  and  Virtue 
(Teh),  and  is  of  interest  in  that  it  leans  toward 
an  eternal  monotheism.  According  to  his  theory 
the  visible  forms  of  the  highest  Teh  can  proceed 
only  from  Tao,  and  Tao,  he  says,  is  impalpable, 
indefinite.  Taoism,  therefore,  contemplates  the 
indefinite,  the  eternal,  and  a  pre-existent  some- 
thing which  Liao-tze  likens  to  the  "  Mother  of  all 
things,"  or  what  wye  call  a  creator. 

In  Chinese  literature  there  are  the  nine  classics, 
the  five  greater  and  the  four  lesser  books.  The 
former  are  Yih-King,  the  Book  of  Changes ;  Shu- 


Chapter  I  :   China 


King-,  Book  of  Records  ;  Shi-King,  the  Book 
of  Odes;  Li-Ki,  the  Book  of  Rites;  and  Chun- 
Tsiu,  a  continuation  of  the  Shu-King.  Of  the 
above,  the  second,  third  and  fourth,  although  long 
antedating  Confucius,  were  edited  by  him,  while 
the  fifth  is  from  his  pen.  The  four  lesser  classics 
are  Ta-Hioh,  Great  learning;  Chung-Yung,  the 
Just  Medium  ;  the  Analects  of  Confucius ;  and 
the  writings  of  Mencius.  The  last  is  the  great 
production  of  Mencius,  while  the  first  three  are 
a  digest  of  the  moralizings  of  Confucius  as 
gathered  by  his  disciples. 

On  these  nine  books  are  founded  Chinese  phi- 
losophy, morals,  thought,  religion,  education, 
ethics,  and  even  etiquette.  The  spirit  of  the  mat- 
ter in  the  classics  is  essentially  lofty,  moral,  and 
good. 

In  China,  learning  transcends  all  else  in  impor- 
tance, and  as  Confucius  is  considered  the  foun- 
tain head  of  literature  and  learning,  so  he  has 
come  to  be  regarded  as  saints  were  regarded 
by  Europeans  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  temples 
to  his  honor  are  found  in  all  large  cities.  The 
most  important  is  the  beautiful  example  of  Chi- 
nese architecture  in  Peking,  where  the  Emperor 
annually  worships  before  his  tablet.  In  spite  of 
this  apparent  adoration,  Confucius  is  not  regard- 
ed by  the  Chinese  as  a  god,  but  is  clearly  under- 
stood by  them  to  have  been  a  man  and  a  philos- 
opher, and  is  revered  as  the  embodiment  of  wis- 


An  American  Engineer  in  China 


dom.  He  was  not  the  founder  of  a  religion,  nor 
was  he  a  religious  writer,  although  his  sentiments 
have  become  woven  in  the  complicated  fabric  oi 

Chinese   faith.     The    name    by    which    foreigners 


Stairway  Leading  to  Temple  of  Confucius,  Peking 

know  him  is  a  latinized  corruption  of  Ktmg-tze, 
the  Master  Kung,  the  last  being  his  family  name, 
as  Mencius  is  a  similar  corruption  of  Mang-tzo, 
the  Master  Mang. 

Following"  the  Chan  dynasty  comes  that  of  Tsin, 
which  was  noted  for  supplying  the  foreign  appel- 
lation of  the  country  and  for  the  great  works, 
both  good  and  bad,  of  its  name-giving  Emperor. 


Chapter  I  :   China  23 

It  was  he  who  united  the  various  peoples  of  East- 
ern Asia  under  one  sway,  laid  the  foundation  for 
at  least  internal  commerce  by  beginning  the  con- 
struction of  the  Chinese  system  of  canals,  started 
the  construction  of  the  Great  Wall,  and  succeeded 
in  raising  his  country  to  a  point  of  material  great- 
ness not  before  reached.  Then,  with  a  view  to 
make  all  records  begin  with  him,  he  ordered 
burned  all  books  and  writings  of  every  descrip- 
tion, including  those  of  Confucius  and  the  other 
philosophers.  Fortunately,  in  spite  of  an  ener- 
getic attempt,  this  sacreligious  act  was  not  com- 
pletely consummated. 

From  this  period  to  the  Tang  dynasty  in  618 
A.D.  the  history  of  this  country  is  a  succession  of 
different  reigning  houses,  internal  wars,  rebellions, 
more  or  less  successful,  and  during  which  the 
capital  was  frequently  moved;  part  of  the  time 
being  located  at  Nan-king  on  the  Yang-tze,  which 
many  of  the  Chinese  to-day  regard  as  the  prop- 
er site.  The  great  single  event  of  this  long 
stretch  of  years,  and  practically  the  only  one  of 
foreign  interest,  was  the  introduction  of  Buddh- 
ism at  the  close  of  the  first  century  A.D. 

The  Emperor  Ming-ti  sent  an  embassy  to  the 
West  to  bring  back  the  teachings  of  the  foreign 
god,  rumors  of  whose  fame  had  already  reached 
the  Pacific  shore.  It  has  since  been  supposed  by 
some  that  this  meant  tidings  of  Christ ;  but  the 
basis  for  such  an  inference  is  doubtful.     At  any 


24  An  American  Engineer  in  China 

rate  the  embassy  found  its  way  to  India  and  re- 
turned thence  with  the  doctrines  of  Buddhism, 
which  at  once  became  the  established  religion  oi 
the  country,  spreading  over  the  whole  of  China 
and  eventually  Japan.  It  makes  an  interesting 
speculation  to  consider  what  the  effect  on  the 
world  would  have  been  if  the  embassy  had  taken 
a  more  northern  route,  bringing  it  to  Palestine 
instead  of  to  India. 

The  Tang  dynasty  a.d.  618  to  908  marks  per- 
haps the  zenith  of  Chinese  development,  when, 
there  is  no  doubt,  its  civilization  and  cultivation 
outshone  those  of  Europe  at  the  same  period. 
Literature  flourished  ;  trade  was  nurtured,  the 
banking  system  developed,  laws  were  codified  and 
the  limits  of  the  Empire  were  extended  even  to 
Persia  and  the  Caspian  Sea.  The  art  of  printing 
was  discovered,  certainly  in  block  form  and  prob- 
ably by  movable  type.  The  fame  of  China 
reached  India  and  Europe,  whence  embassies 
were  dispatched  bearing  salutations  and  presents. 
Monks  of  the  Nestorian  order  were  received  by 
the  Emperor  Tai-tsung,  who  gave  permission  for 
them  to  erect  churches;  and  thus  was  Christianity 
first  publicly  acknowledged  in  China.  Although 
the  efforts  of  the  Nestorian  monks  continued  for 
many  years,  from  perhaps  as  early  as  500  a.d.  to  845, 
yet  they  were  without  permanent  results,  as  they 
left  no  monuments  behind  them,  and  the  practice 
of  Christianity  was  suspended  for  some  centuries. 


Chapter  I :   China  25 


In  12 1 3  A.D.  the  Chinese  for  the  first  time 
passed  under  a  foreign  rule,  when  Genghis  Khan, 
the  great  Mongol,  crossed  the  wall  and  began  to 
lay  waste  the  country.  When  he  had  captured 
Peking  and  established  a  Mongol  dynast)-,  he 
turned  his  attention  to  further  conquests,  and  in 
1 2 19  led  a  force  westward.  With  it  he  overran 
Northern  India,  Asia  Minor  and  even  entered 
Europe  in  Southern  Russia.  He  then  withdrew 
to  Peking,  having  established  the  largest  Empire 
in  the  world's  history.  Under  his  degenerate 
successors  this  vast  power  dwindled,  the  only 
permanent  result  being  found  in  Europe;  where 
the  Turks  are  the  descendants  of  those  whom 
Genghis  drove  out  of  their  own  Asiatic  country. 

The  last  purely  Chinese  dynasty  was  the  Ming 
(Bright),  which  occupied  the  throne  from  1368  to 
its  overthrow  by  the  Manchus  in  1644.  The  capi- 
tal of  this  house  was  originally  at  Nan-king,  but 
was  moved  bv  the  great  Emperor  Yung-loh  to 
Peking  in  1403,  where  he  constructed  the  famous 
Ming  Tombs  forty  miles  northwest  of  the  city,  and 
where  he  and  his  successors  of  Ming  lie  buried  in 
solitary  grandeur.  He  established  also  the  laws 
under  which  China  is  governed  to-day,  and  under 
Wan-leih  the  seeds  of  Christianity  were  perma- 
nently planted  in  China  in  1582  by  the  Jesuit  mis- 
sionary Matteo  Ricci.  About  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  earlier  a  temporary  foothold  had  been 
gained  by  the  same  order.     The  first  effort  had 


Chapter  I :   China  27 


lasted,  for  only  seventy-five  years,  and  then,  like  the 
Nestorian  movement,  quietly  died  without  practi- 
cal results.  It  was  also  during  this  dynasty  that 
the  first  foreign  settlement  was  made  on  Chinese 
soil,  in  the  Portuguese  port  of  Macao  in  1557. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  the  northern  tribes 
set  up  a  rebellion.  Gaining  adherents  to  their 
cause  they  captured  Peking  in  1644,  swept  away 
Chinese  rule  and  established  the  Manchu  dynasty, 
to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  "  Ta  Tsing  " 
or  the  "  Great  Pure."  The  principal  effects  of 
this  change  were  to  establish  the  northern  races 
in  control  of  the  government,  and  to  stamp  upon 
the  whole  people  their  most  striking  outward  dis- 
tinguishing mark,  in  the  queue,  which  was  a  dis- 
tinctly  Manchu  custom,  the  Chinese  having  pre- 
viously cut  their  hair  like  Western  people.  On 
their  establishment  the  Manchu  rulers  ordered  all 
people  to  wear  the  queue  as  a  token  of  subjugation. 
This  the  Chinese  natives  still  do,  although  the  Ti- 
betans and  Mongols  continue  to  cut  their  hair  as 
of  old.  Manchus  and  Chinese  can  be  readily  dis- 
tinguished by  their  names.  Thus  one  of  Manchu 
descent  has  but  a  double  name,  like  Yung  Lu,  while 
a  Chinese  has  three  characters  as,  Li  Hung-chang. 

The  government  ol  China  is  an  absolute  des- 
potism, wilh  powers  vested  in  an  Emperor,  whose 
position  is  well  indicated  by  his  most  used  title 
the  "Son  of  Heaven."  He  is  assisted  by  two 
councils  under  whom  are  the  seven  boards  of  Civil 


28 


An  American  Engineer  in  China 


Service,  Revenue,  Rites,  War,  Punishment,  Works, 
and  Navy,  who  severally  attend  to  the  adminis- 
tration ol  affairs  in  their  respective  departments. 
Then  there  is  the  Tsung-li  Vaineii,  or  foreign  of- 


Four  Members  of  the   Tsung-li  Yamen  and   Mr.  Conger  in 
the  Courtyard  of  the  Yamen 

From  left  to  right  they  are  :    Hsu  Yung-i,  Wang  Wen-shao,  Chao  Shu- 
chiao,  Mr.  Conger,  Yii  Keng 


fice,  a  bureau  composed  of  twelve  ministers,  with 
and  through  whom  all  relations  with  other  nations 
and  foreigners  generally  are  conducted. 

The  communication  between  the   Imperial  au- 
thority and  the  people  is  through  the  local  gov- 


Chapter  I :   China  29 

ernments  of  the  provinces.  These  provinces  in 
their  organization  closely  resemble  an  American 
State,  varying  in  size  from  Che-kiang,  the  smallest, 
with  an  area  of  35,000  square  miles,  to  Sz-chuen, 
the  largest,  embracing  170,000  square  miles. 
These  are  respectively  comparable  with  the 
States  of  Indiana  (36,350  square  miles)  and  Cali- 
fornia (156,000  square  miles).  Each  province  is 
ruled  by  a  Governor  appointed  by  the  throne, 
who  exercises  his  authority  through  a  chain  of 
officialism.  The  province  is  divided  into  circuits, 
each  circuit  being  controlled  by  an  intendant  of 
circuit  or  taotai.  In  addition  to  the  regular 
taotais,  there  are  special  ones  appointed  to  look 
after  the  large  treaty  ports,  like  Shanghai.  Such 
taotais  have  immense  powers,  and  the  positions 
are  much  sought  after.  The  circuits  or  "  Fu  " 
are  usually  again  subdivided  into  two  or  more 
"  Chow,"  or  prefectures,  under  a  prefect,  and  each 
prefecture  into  Hsiens,  or  districts,  under  a  mag- 
istrate. Cities  where  such  officials  dwell  are 
usually  indicated  by  the  adding  "  Fu,"  "Chow" 
or  "  Hsien  "  to  their  names.  The  Hsien  magis- 
trates are  the  men  who  come  in  direct  contact 
with  the  people.  The  Governor  in  turn  reports 
to  an  officer  properly  styled  a  Governor-General, 
but  whose  title  foreign  nations  have  translated 
as  Viceroy,  each  of  whom  usually  controls  two 
provinces.  These  Viceroys  form  the  real  gov- 
ernment of  the  country.     Their  powers  are  abso- 


30  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


lute.  It  is  to  them,  armed  with  judgment  of  life 
and  death,  thai  the  people  look  for  justice  and 
protection,  and  to  them,  also,  the  throne  itself 
looks  for  support.  Each  Viceroy  maintains  his 
own  army,  ot  which,  in  some  instances,  a  portion 
has  been  foreign  drilled  ;  and  he  has  a  right  to 
decide  whether  he  will  use  this  army  for  national 
purposes  or  not. 

Of  the  existing  college  of  viceroys,  there  are 
three  who  have  brought  themselves,  by  their  acts, 
abilities,  and  force  of  character,  to  the  forefront, 
and  who  are  known  as  the  three  great  viceroys. 
These  men  are  Li  Ilung-chang,  formerly  Viceroy 
of  Chi-li,  but  now  of  Canton,  ruling  the  prov- 
inces of  Kwang-tung  and  Kwang-si,  and  so  usually 
referred  to  as  the  Viceroy  of  the  two  Kwang; 
Chang  Chi-tung,  the  Viceroy  of  Wu-chang,  in  like 
manner  called  the  Viceroy  of  the  two  I  In,  as  his 
dominion  covers  the  provinces  of  Hu-peh,  and 
Hu-nan  ;  and  Liu  Kun-yi,  the  Viceroy  of  Nan- 
king, ruling  the  provinces  of  Kiang-si  and  Ngan- 
whui. 

Li  Hung-chang,  whose  reputation  is  interna- 
tional, needs  no  introduction.  The  other  two, 
while,  perhaps,  not  so  well  known,  are  in  China 
of  scarcely  less  importance,  especially  as  they  have 
a  personal  hold  on  their  people  that  is  not  equalled 
by  any  other  official.  They  are  not  rich,  which 
is  almost  the  same  as  saying  that  they  are  honest, 
and,  although  they  are  decidedly  pro-foreign  in 


Chapter  I :   China  31 

their  views,  nevertheless  they  are  at  the  same  time 
imbued  with  a  strong  and  earnest  desire  to  ameli- 
orate the  condition  of  their  charges  and  therefore 
are  honored  and  respected  by  their  people.  To 
accomplish  this  end  they  do  not  hesitate  to  avail 
themselves  of  occidental  ideas  or  means  if  therein 
they  see  a  possibility  of  benefit. 

When  the  Empress  Dowager  in  1898  executed 
her  coup  d'etat  and  notified  the  Viceroys  of  what 
she  had  done,  Chang  Chi-tung  and  Liu  Kun-yi 
were  the  only  ones  who  had  courage  to  express 
their  disapproval.  In  consequence  there  is  little 
doubt  that  she  would  have  removed  or  beheaded 
them  if  she  had  dared  to  brave  the  outcry  of  the 
people  of  the  four  provinces  which  would  cer- 
tainly  have  followed.  In  any  reorganization  of 
China  these  three  men  will  pla\T  an  important 
part.  The  influence  of  Chang  Chi-tung  and  Liu 
Kunyi  will  certainly  be  of  weight,  as  they  enjoy 
the  esteem  and  confidence  of  both  foreigner  and 
native. 

In  the  appointing  of  all  officials  there  is  one 
rule  that  is  curiously  indicative  of  Chinese  rea- 
soning and  methods.  No  official  is  allowed  to 
serve  in  a  district  in  which  he  was  born.  The 
reason  for  this  is  that,  being  a  stranger,  without 
local  prejudice  or  interest,  he  will,  it  is  believed, 
administer  justice  quite  impartially.  Unfortu- 
nately, human  nature  being  the  same  in  China 
as  elsewhere,  the  official,  on  account  of  his   lack 


32 


An  American  Engineer  in  China 


of  local  prejudice  and  interest,  administers  justice 
in  such  a  manner  as  will  best  serve  his  own  ends 
and  secure  his  advancement. 

Topographically  considered,  China  lies  on  the 
eastern  Hank  of  the  great  Central  Asian  plateau 
and,  therefore,  its  main  drainage  lines  lie  east  and 
west.     There  are  three  great  valleys:  that  of  the 


Yang-tze  Kiang,  between  Han-yang  and  Wu-chang 

More   than    one    mile    wide,    although   seven    hundred   miles   from   the 

mouth 

Yellow  in  the  north,  Yang-tze  in  the  centre,  and 
the  Si  or  (West)  in  the  south.  The  Yellow  Riv- 
er, or  Hoang  Ho,  or  as  it  is  frequently  called,  on 
account  of  its  erratic  and  devastating  floods, 
"  China's  Sorrow,"  is  a  stream  very  much  resem- 
bling the  Mississippi,  earning  a  great  amount  of 
alluvium,  which  it  deposits  at  various  places, 
forming  bars  and  shoals.  In  order  to  protect  the 
shores  from   inundations,   the  Chinese  for  many 


Chapter  I :   China  33 

years  have  been  building  dykes,  with  the  result 
of  gradually  raising  the  bottom  of  the  river 
through  the  deposition  of  alluvium.  There  are 
now  many  places  where  the  bottom  of  the  stream 
is  actually  higher  than  the  normal  banks.  Under 
such  circumstances  the  breaking  of  a  dyke  means 
untold  destruction,  with  possible  permanent 
change  of  bed.  The  location  of  its  mouth  shows 
the  character  of  this  great  river.  Eight)'  years 
ago  it  flowed  into  the  Yellow  Sea,  south  of  the 
Shang-tung  Peninsula.  To-day  it  enters  the  Gulf 
of  Pe-chi-li  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  a  di- 
rect line  northwest  of  its  previous  location,  or 
about  six  hundred  miles,  when  measured  around 
the  coast  line.  The  Yang-tze,  on  the  other  hand, 
rightly  merits  its  name  of  "China's  Glory." 
This  noble  stream,  whose  length  is  about  3,500 
miles,  of  which  1,100  miles  are  navigable  by  steam 
vessels,  divides  the  country,  approximately  equal- 
ly north  and  south.  Its  drainage  area  covers 
more  than  one-half  of  the  empire,  the  richest 
and  most  valuable  portion.  This  stream,  like  the 
Hoang  Ho.  carries  a  large  amount  of  alluvial  mat- 
ter, but  it  is  much  more  orderly  and  well  regu- 
lated. Practically  at  its  mouth,  the  gateway  to 
Central  China,  although  actually  on  a  small  trib- 
utary called  the  Whang-Poo,  is  Shanghai.  The 
West  River,  or  Si  Kiang,  drains  the  southern  and 
south-western  section  of  the  empire,  flowing  into 
the  sea  at  Canton,  where,  with  the  Pei  (North)  and 


34  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


Tung  (East)  Rivers,  it  forms  the  broad  estuary 
known  as  the  Canton  River. 

In  agricultural  possibilities  and  mineral  wealth 
China  is  particularly  fortunate.  On  account  of 
its  great  dimensions  north  and  south  it  enjoys  all 
varieties  of  climate,  from  the  tropical  to  the  tem- 
perate, and  in  consequence  possesses  the  ability  to 
raise  almost  any  crop.  The  great  bottom-lands  of 
the  Yang-tze,  the  Hoang  and  other  rivers,  which 
are  subject  to  annual  overflow,  are  thus  by  nature 
enriched  and  automatically  fertilized,  as  are  the 
bottom-lands  along  the  Mississippi  and  other  allu- 
vium-bearing streams.  In  addition  to  the  ordi- 
nary advantages  of  soil  and  variety  of  climate  to 
which  such  a  large  expanse  is  naturally  entitled, 
China  enjoys  one  special  favor  in  the  singular  de- 
posit known  as  Loess. 

The  country  lying  north  from  the  Yang-tze 
to  the  Gulf  of  Pe-chi-li,  part  of  which  has  been 
made  by  the  alluvial  deposits  of  the  Yang-tze  and 
Yellow  Rivers,  is  known  as  the  Great  Plain.  Of 
this  territory  there  is  a  considerable  section  in 
the  provinces  of  Shen-si,  Shan-si  and  Shan-tung, 
which  is  known  as  the  Loess  formation.  This 
particular  soil  is  yellow  in  appearance,  resem- 
bling alluvial  material,  but  on  examination  is 
found  to  consist  of  a  network  of  minute  capillary 
tubes.  The  best  theory  for  its  deposit  is  that  it 
is  the  fine  dust  of  dried  vegetable  matter  carried 
down  by  the  winds  from  the  north-west  plains  and 


Chapter  I :   China  35 

dropped  where  found.  The  fine  tubes  are  ac- 
counted for  by  believing  them  to  be  the  spaces 
occupied  by  the  roots  of  grasses,  as  the  latter 
have  been  continually  elevating  themselves  to  re- 
main on  the  constantly  rising  surface.  The  loess 
soil  is  of  great  and  unknown  thickness,  of  extraor- 
dinary fertility,  and  with  great  capacity  for  with- 
standing droughts,  as  the  tubes,  by  their  capil- 
lary action,  serve  to  bring  up  moisture  from  the 
ground  water  below.  This  part  of  the  Great 
Plain  has  been  growing  crops  for  many  centu- 
ries without  fertilizing,  and  supports  the  densest 
part  of  the  Chinese  population. 

In  minerals,  China  is  particularly  rich.  Of  the 
precious  metals,  gold  and  silver  are  known  to 
exist  and  probably  in  paying  quantities,  while  of 
the  less  valuable  metals,  copper,  lead,  antimonv, 
and  others  have  been  found,  and  but  await  the 
introduction  of  proper  transportation  methods  to 
be  developed.  Petroleum  occurs  in  Sz-chuen, 
the  extreme  western  province  lying  next  to  Ti- 
bet. But  China's  greatest  mineral  wealth  lies  in 
iron  and  coal.  The  great  fields  of  the  latter 
are  in  Chi-li,  Shen-si,  Shan-si,  Sz-chuen,  Kiang-si 
and  Hu-nan,  where  all  varieties  from  soft  bitu- 
minous to  very  hard  anthracites  are  found.  Of 
the  former  there  are  coals  both  coking  and  non- 
coking,  fit  for  steel  making  or  steam  uses,  while 
of  the  latter  there  are  those  adapted  for  domes- 
tic  use,    with    enough    volatile    matter   to    ignite 


:,(>  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


easily,  and  others  sufficiently  hard  to  bear  the 
burden  in  a  blast  turnaee  and  yet  so  low  in 
phosphorus,  sulphur,  and  volatile  substances  as 
to  render  them  available  for  the  manufacture  of 
Bessemer  pig,  as  is  done  in  Pennsylvania.  Chi- 
nese houses  are  usually  without  chimneys,  and 
therefore  the  native  is  compelled  to  use  for  do- 
mestic purposes  an  anthracite,  or,  as  he  calls  it, 
a  non-smoking  coal,  which  he  burns  in  an  open 
fireplace,  the  products  of  combustion  escaping 
through  the  doors,  unglazed  windows,  or  the 
many  leaks  which  are  usually  found  in  Chinese 
roofs. 

In  opposing  the  introduction  of  occidental  re- 
forms, methods,  and  commercial  relations,  China 
has  invited,  if  not  actually  obliged,  the  forming  of 
bases  by  other  nations  from  which  to  push  their 
trade.  Chinese  soil  is  now  held,  through  some 
excuse  and  under  various  conditions,  by  Portu- 
gal, Great  Britain,  France,  Germany,  Russia,  and 
Japan.  In  addition  to  this  Italy  has  made  an  un- 
successful attempt  to  secure  a  foothold  at  San 
Mun  Bay. 

The  Portuguese  possession  is  Macao,  situated 
on  the  western  side  of  the  mouth  of  the  Canton 
River,  a  charming  settlement  covering  the  city 
and  a  few  square  miles  of  territory  separated 
from  the  main  land  by  a  narrow  neck.  It  is  a  de- 
lightful little  piece  of  southern  European  refine- 
ment in  an  oriental  setting,  and  perhaps  the  only 


Chapter  I :   China  37 

point  on  the  coast  to  which  the  word  charming 
can  be  rightly  applied.  It  was  the  first  foreign 
settlement  in  China,  being  ceded  to  Portugal  in 
1557,  in  return  for  services  in  putting  down  pi- 
rates. On  account  of  the  shallowness  of  the  har- 
bor, the  importance  of  Macao  as  a  trading  point 
or  military  base  is  very  small. 

The  British  possessions  are  Hongkong,  Kow- 
loon,  and  VVei-hai-wei.  As  a  result  of  the  Opium 
War  of  1841,  the  island  ol  Hongkong,  whose 
greatest  dimension  is  but  nine  miles,  and  wholly 
mountainous,  was  given  over  by  China  as  a  part 
of  the  indemnity.  It  is  located  at  the  eastern  side 
of  the  Canton  estuary,  directly  opposite  Macao, 
but  distant  therefrom  about  forty  miles.  In  i860 
there  was  added,  in  order  to  complete  the  har- 
bor, the  shore  of  the  main  land,  called  Kow-loon, 
across  the  roadstead  whose  width  is  rather  more 
than  a  mile.  On  this  island  the  English  have  es- 
tablished a  colony,  built  the  city  of  Victoria,  and, 
through  the  magnificent  land-locked  harbor,  have 
developed  a  trading  point  whose  commerce  ranks 
with  that  of  the  world's  greatest  ports.  There  are 
no  customs  dues  nor  restricting  conditions,  but  all 
nations  and  nationalities  have  an  equal  footing,  so 
that  Hongkong  has  become  the  great  entrepot  or 
warehouse  for  nearly  the  whole  of  Eastern  Asia, 
and  absolutely  so  for  Southern  China,  whose  gate- 
way it  controls.  A  year's  record  shows  that  over 
1 1,000  vessels   enter  and  clear,  not  including   up- 


Chapter  I :   China  39 

wards  of  70,000  junks.  Thus  have  the  English 
converted  an  apparently  useless  island  into  a  most 
valuable  possession  for  themselves  and  a  great 
stepping-stone  for  the  world's  commerce. 

The  next  country  to  establish  a  foothold  on  Chi- 
nese soil  was  France,  who  acquired  from  Annam, 
by  war  and  treat)',  between  the  years  i860  and 
1874,  part  of  the  province  of  Tong-king.  In  1882 
further  trouble  arising  between  France  and  An- 
nam, the  latter  appealed  to  her  protector,  China, 
and  war  ensued.  The  result  was  the  permanent  oc- 
cupation of  the  whole  of  Tong-king  and  the  plac- 
ing of  the  French  frontier  next  to  that  of  China. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  Japanese  war,  the 
island  of  Formosa  was  permanently  ceded  by 
China,  and  an  arrangement  made  for  the  tempo- 
rary occupation  of  Port  Arthur.  Then  Russia 
interfered,  insisted  on  the  withdrawal  of  the 
Japanese  troops  from  the  North,  and,  as  her  price 
for  aiding  China,  secured  for  twenty-five  years  a 
lease  of  the  Liao-tung  Peninsula,  covering  eight 
hundred  square  miles,  with  the  harbors  of  Port 
Arthur  and  Talien-wan,  and  so,  practically,  ob- 
tained the  control  of  Chinese  Manchuria. 

In  1897  the  German  Emperor  demanded,  as 
compensation  for  two  German  missionaries  who 
were  killed,  a  share  of  Chinese  territory,  which 
was  granted  through  a  "  lease"  of  Kiao-chow  Bay 
for  ninety-nine  years. 

These  so-called   "leases"    are  in   fact   nothing 


4o  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


more  than  mere  subterfuges  to  save  "face"  for 
the  Chinese  in  yielding  up  their  territory,  as  the 
following  abbreviated  quotations  from  the  Ger- 
man documenl  will  show  : 

"I.  1 1  is  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  China,  being 
desirous  oi  preserving  the  existing  good  relations 
with  I  lis  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Germany  and 
of  promoting  an  increase  of  German  power  and 
influence  in  the  Far  East,  sanctions  the  acquire- 
ment under  lease  by  Germany  of  the  land  extend- 
ing for  one  hundred  li  at  high  tide. 


"Germany  may  engage  in  works  for  the  public 
benefit,  such  as  water-works,  within  the  territory 
covered  by  the  lease,  without  reference  to  China. 
Should  China  wish  to  march  troops  or  establish 
garrisons  therein  she  can  only  do  so  after  negoti- 
ating with  and  obtaining  the  express  permission 
of  German  v. 

"  II.  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Germany  be- 
ing desirous,  like  the  rulers  of  certain  other  coun- 
tries, of  establishing  a  naval  and  coaling  station  and 
constructing  dockyards  on  the  coast  of  China,  the 
Emperor  of  China  agrees  to  lease  to  him  for  the 
purpose  all  the  land  on  the  southern  and  northern 
sides  of  Kiao-chow  Bay  for  a  term  of  ninety-nine 
years.  Germany  is  to  be  at  liberty  to  erect  forts  on 
this  land  for  the  defence  of  her  possessions  therein. 

"  III.  During  the  continuance  of  the  lease  China 


Chapter  I :   China  41 


shall  have  no  voice  in  the  government  or  admin- 
istration of  the  leased  territory.  It  will  be  gov- 
erned and  administered  during  the  whole  term  of 
ninety-nine  years  solely  by  Germany,  so  that  the 
possibility  of  friction  between  the  two  powers 
may  be  reduced  to  the  smallest  magnitude. 


"  If  at  any  time  the  Chinese  should  form  schemes 
for  the  development  of  Shan-tung,  for  the  execu- 
tion of  which  it  is  necessary  to  obtain  foreign 
capital,  the  Chinese  Government,  or  whatever 
Chinese  may  be  interested  in  such  schemes,  shall, 
in  the  first  instance,  apply  to  German  capitalists. 
Application  shall  also  be  made  to  German  manu- 
facturers for  the  necessary  machinery  and  materi- 
als before  the  manufacturers  of  an}7  other  power 
are  approached.  Should  German  capitalists  or 
manufacturers  decline  to  take  up  the  business,  the 
Chinese  shall  then  be  at  liberty  to  obtain  money 
and  materials  from  other  nations." 

While  the  area  actually  covered  by  the  lease  is 
small,  the  shore-line  being  but  100  li  (33  miles), 
nevertheless  the  Germans,  availing  themselves 
of  the  special  commercial  concession,  as  above 
quoted,  have  thrown  a  sphere  claim  over  the 
whole  province  of  Shan-tung,  an  area  as  large  as 
New  England. 

The  strongholds  of  Kiao-chow  and  Port  Arthur 
— for  the  Germans  and  Russians  immediately  set 


42  An  American  Engineer  in  China 

about  fortifying  them — so  threatened  the  balance 
of  power  in  the  North,  thai  the  British  Govern- 
ment in  1898,  demanding  something  to  offset 
them,  secured  the  harbor  of  Wei-hai-wei,  directly 
opposite  Port  Arthur  and  with  it  marking  the 
entrance  to  the  Gulf  of  Pe-chi-li.  This  territory 
is  to  be  held  as  long  as  the  Russians  hold  Port 
Arthur.  At  the  same  time  Great  Britain  extend- 
ed the  limits  of  her  Kow-loon  possession  by  two 
hundred  square  miles,  so  as  to  absolutely  protect 
the  harbor  of  Hongkong,  and  secured  from  the 
Chinese  Government  a  promise  that  no  territory 
in  the  Yang-tze  Valley  should  be  alienated  to 
any  other  power,  thus  obtaining  a  so-called  sphere 
of  influence  oyer  the  richest  half  of  the  Empire. 
France,  not  wishing  to  see  her  commercial  rivals 
outdo  her,  demanded,  as  her  share  of  the  plunder, 
the  harbor  and  port  of  Kiang-chow-wau  near  her 
province  of  Tong-king,  and  secured  a  lease  of  the 
same  lor  ninety-nine  years.  Thus  has  the  Chinese 
Government  given  away  its  patrimony. 

In  addition  to  the  above  possessions  of  territory 
actually  held  under  the  domination  of  their  re- 
spective governments,  there  are  at  the  various 
treaty  ports  the  so-called  foreign  concessions, 
which  have  been  given  by  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment to  the  temporary  care  of  the  people  of  other 
nationalities,  permitting  them  to  establish  police 
force,  courts  of  justice,  fire  protective  service,  to 
collect  taxes  for  local  use,  and  otherwise  to  main- 


Chapter  I :   China  43 

tain  local  governments  according  to  foreign  regu- 
lations and  practically  without  interference  by  the 
Chinese  Government.  Such  concessions  remain, 
however,  in  name  at  least,  Chinese  territory.  The 
largest  and  most  important  of  them  is  Shanghai, 
where  grants  were  made  some  years  ago  to  the 
English,  American,  and  French.  The  first,  two 
concessions  have  been  combined  into  the  Shang- 
hai Municipality,  under  a  system  of  popular  gov- 
ernment with  annual  elections,  where  the  rate- 
payers are  voters  and  which  in  all  its  functions 
closely  resembles  an  independent  republic.  The 
theorv  that  all  nations  are  on  an  equal  footing 
within  the  limits  of  the  Municipality  is  carried  out 
to  such  an  extreme,  that  not  only  does  the  Chinese 
Government  maintain  a  post-office,  but  also  do  all 
other  countries  under  whose  flags  lines  of  mail 
steamers  are  operated  to  and  from  the  port. 
There  are  thus  to  be  found,  in  addition  to  the 
Chinese  post-office,  regular  establishments  of  the 
United  States,  Great  Britain,  Germany  and  Japan, 
while  France  has  hers  in  the  French  concession, 
at  all  of  which  the  stamps  of  the  several  countries 
are  for  sale. 

Such,  in  a  few  words,  is  the  political  and  phys- 
ical status  of  that  nation  and  that  country  on 
which  the  attention  of  the  civilized  world  is 
focused,  and  whose  development  and  regenera- 
tion will  probably  be  the  leading  feature  of  the 
early  years  of  the  new  century. 


Chapter 

II 

American    Concession 


IN  the  making  of  Chinese  foreign  commerce 
and  the  opening  of  the  country  to  trade  and 
industrial  enterprise,  the  position  taken  by 
European  governments  lias  been  to  foster  and 
support  the  efforts  of  their  subjects.  The  policy 
of  the  United  States  in  this  regard  has  been  dis- 
tinctly negative,  and  whatever  has  been  accom- 
plished by  our  citizens  is  the  result  of  individual 
energy  without  national  support.  There  have  even 
been  lacking  co-operative  efforts  on  the  part  of 
our  people,  so  that  practically  all  of  the  corpora- 
tion interests,  such  as  banks,  transportation  lines, 
railway  and  mining  privileges,  and  the  adminis- 
tration of  those  departments  of  the  Chinese  Gov- 
ernment whose  functions  are  largely  external, 
such  as  the  maritime  customs,  are  in  the  hands  of 
Europeans,  principally  English.  The  reason  for 
this  is  partly  due  to  the  traditional  policy  of  the 
American  Government  not  to  interfere  in  foreign 
affairs,  but  principally  to  the  fact  that  the  atten- 
tion and  capital  of  the  American  people  have  been 
occupied  in  the  development  of  their  own  country. 
A  change  from  such  conditions  and  a  turning  of 
American  energies  into  new  channels  were  devel- 
opments that  were  inevitable.  In  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  transition  of  the  American  position  the 

44 


Chapter  II  :   American  Concession  45 

future  historian  will  point  to  the  mass  of  statisti- 
cal information  now  being  made,  which  will  show- 
that  the  status  of  our  country  changed  from  being 
open  to  invasion  by  foreign  capital  to  being  capa- 
ble of  invading  other  lands  with  its  own  capital, 
about  the  year  1895.  The  latent  force  was  given 
life  by  the  Spanish  War  in  directing  the  attention 
by  our  people  to  foreign  affairs,  and  the  subse- 
quent and  consequent  acquisition  of  foreign  terri- 
tory. A  singular  confirmation  of  the  movement 
toward  a  broadening  out  on  the  part  of  American 
capital  for  foreign  invasion,  was  the  securing  of 
the  concession  of  the  railway  from  Hankow  to 
Canton,  consummated  by  the  signing  of  the  grant 
in  Washington  in  April,  1S98,  by  H.  E.  Wu  Ting- 
fang,  the  Chinese  Minister,  and  by  a  singular  co- 
incidence just  one  week  before  the  declaration 
of  war,  which  was  to  establish  the  United  States 
as  a  colonizing  power. 

The  concession  covers  about  nine  hundred  miles 
of  railway,  together  with  mining  and  other  privi- 
leges, which  make  it  in  value  and  in  national  im- 
portance second  to  no  other  concession  granted 
by  the  Chinese  Government.  The  projected  route 
of  the  railway  itself  is  from  Hankow,  the  metropo- 
lis of  the  interior,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  the 
"Chicago  of  China,"  to  Canton,  the  great  port  in 
the  South,  and  thence  with  rights  to  go  to  any 
selected  point  on  the  coast  i!  desired.  It  lies 
through  part  of  the  province  ol  Hu-peh,  for  four 


46  An  American  Engineer  in  China 

hundred  miles  through  the  whole  length  of  the 
province  oi  Hu-nan,  and  across  the  province  of 
K.wang-1  ung. 

In  order  to  investigate  the  local  conditions  and 
to  ascertain  the  official,  physical,  and  commercial 
aspects  oi  the  concession,  and  to  make  a  detailed 
survey  of  the  route  ol  the  railway,  the  concession- 
aire syndicate  retained  me  as  a  Cliiel  Engineer  to 
go  to  the  East,  with  a  complete  stall.  The  work 
of  making  this  survey,  the  longest  continuous  in- 
strumental measurement  up  to  that  time  com- 
pleted in  China,  and  the  other  duties  ol  investiga- 
tion connected  therewith,  necessarily  brought  me 
in  personal  contact  with  Chinese  officials  of  the 
highest  rank,  such  as  members  of  the  Tsung-li- 
Yamen  ;  Sheng  Tajen,  the  distinguished  Director- 
General  of  Rail  ways  and  Telegraphs  ;  Viceroys; 
Governors  of  Provinces;  minor  officials  of  all  de- 
grees; and  the  foreign  merchants  of  different  na- 
tionalities who  control  the  trade  at  the  treats- 
ports.  I  was  obliged  to  visit  not  only  the  various 
points  from  Peking  to  Canton  that  are  accessible 
to  ordinary  travellers,  but  typical  portions  of  the 
interior,  which  can  be  reached  only  with  difficul- 
ty, and  others  which  it  had  not  been  previousl) 
possible  to  reach  at  all,  so  that  for  five  hundred 
miles  I  was  the  first  foreigner  ever  seen.  1  was  en- 
abled, by  living  among  the  people  under  all  sorts 
of  conditions  in  official  yamen,  in  temples,  in  vil- 
lage inns,  or  in  ordinary  private  houses,  to  inspect 


J     M 


48  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


and  study  at  close  range  Chinese  who  were  ab- 
solutely and  entirely  unaffected  by  foreign  or 
outside  influences.  My  experience  with  the  peo- 
ple extended  therefore  from  the  poorest  peasant 
through  all  grades  oi  society  up  to  those  actually 
next  to  the  throne,  and  my  observations  of  the 
country  from  the  national  and  commercial  capitals 
down  to  the  individual  farmhouse,  or  the  little 
country  hamlet,  where  a  foreigner  was  as  great 
an  object  of  wonderful  astonishment  as  a  man 
from  Mars  would  be  with  us. 

Of  the  eighteen  provinces  which  constitute  the 
Chinese  Empire  proper,  the  only  one,  until  re- 
cently, which  had  not  been  explored  or  mapped 
by  foreigners,  previous  to  the  occasion  described 
herein,  was  the  province  of  Ilu-nan,  extending 
from  the  Yang-tze  Kiang  to  the  Nan-ling  Range, 
— that  is,  between  the  30th  and  25th  parallels  of 
latitude,  and  between  the  109th  and  114th  meri- 
dians of  east  longitude. 

From  the  earliest  times,  since  the  subject  of  the 
development  of  the  interior  of  China  has  been 
considered,  the  province  of  Hu-nan  has  been  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  great  objectives  of  the  rail- 
way and  mining  promoter,  on  account  of  its  well- 
known  wealth  in  coal  and  other  minerals,  the  fer- 
tility of  its  soil,  and  the  superior  ability  of  its 
people.  The  people  themselves,  however,  have 
been  the  most  clannish  and  conservative  in  the 
Empire,    and    have    succeeded    in    keeping   their 


Chapter  II :   American  Concession  49 


province  practically  free  from  invasion  by  foreign- 
ers or  even  by  foreign  ideas.  All  writers  on 
China  refer  to  this  attitude  of  the  people  of  Hu- 
nan. As  Lord  Charles  Beresford  says  of  it  in  his 
recent  work  :  "  At  present  the  province  of  Hu-nan, 
though  very  rich,  and  the  people  very  well-to-do, 
is  the  most  anti-foreign  in  China.  Foreigners  who 
penetrate  into  Ilu-nan,  even  by  help  of  the  man- 
darins with  a  military  escort,  do  so  at  the  risk 
of  their  lives."  Strangely  enough,  however,  this 
hostilitv  is  directed  not  only  against  foreigners, 
but  against  other  Chinese  with  almost  equal  force. 
In  the  way  of  exclusiveness,  the  Ilu-nanese  mark 
therefore  the  extreme  of  the  Chinese  character  in 
that  regard.  Thev  are,  however,  hard  working, 
and  possess  one  of  the  richest  provinces  in  the 
empire  as  to  mineral  resources  and  fertility  of 
soil.  In  fact,  it  is  doubtful  if  any  other  province, 
except  possibly  Sz-chuen,  exceeds  Hu-nan  in  the 
variety,  extent,  and  value  of  its  mineral  wealth, 
while  Hu-nan  has  the  great  advantage  over 
Sz-chuen  in  having  a  double  outlet  north  and 
south  for  its  products  and  being  five  hundred 
miles  nearer  the  sea-coast  market. 

In  1 871  Baron  Richtofen,  the  great  German 
geologist,  to  whose  investigations  we  owe  the 
greater  part  of  our  knowledge  ol  the  geological 
structure  of  China,  made  a  trip  from  south  to 
north  across  Hu-nan  to  report  on  the  coal  areas 
of  the  province  to  the  Shanghai  Chamber  of  Com- 


5©  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


incite;    but    his   voyage  was  confined   wholly  to 
boat  travel,  and  therefore  the  information  that  he 

obtained  was  very  limited.  Some  three  years 
previous  to  this,  Pumpelly,  the  American  geolo- 
gist, had  made  an  attempt  to  explore  Iln-nan  by 
proceeding  by  boat  up  the  Siang  River  from  the 
Yang-tze,  but  was  not  allowed  to  land,  and  finally 
was  compelled  by  the  people  to  turn  back  alter 
having  reached,  but  not  entered,  Chang-sha,  the 
capital  of  the  province.  In  1878  Mr.  G.J.  Morrison, 
an  English  engineer,  travelled  from  north  to  south 
across  Hu-nan,  having  attempted  to  make  the 
journey  on  foot,  but  was  compelled  by  the  people 
to  take  to  boat,  as  Baron  Richtofen  had  also  done. 
Missionaries  have  made  a  number  of  attempts  to 
travel  through  Hu-nan,  but  in  every  case  without 
success,  except  in  the  single  instance  of  maintain- 
ing one  Roman  Catholic  Mission  Station  in  South- 
ern Hu-nan,  so  that  the  only  accurate  knowledge 
of  this  most  interesting  section  was  that  obtained 
from  the  three  travellers  above  mentioned,  but 
whose  observations  were  made  wholly  from  boats. 
Xo  laud  journey  by  foreigners  had  been  made 
through  the  province,  except  in  the  northwestern 
part,  where  the  people  are  less  anti-foreign.  In 
the  other  provinces  little  or  no  difficulty  was  to 
be  anticipated.  In  Ilu-peh  foreigners  were  well 
known  and  could  travel  at  will,  and  the  same  was 
true,  although  possiblv  to  a  less  degree,  in  Kwang- 
tung.     Hu-nan  was  peculiar. 


Chapter  II:   American  Concession  51 


The  province  of  Hu-nan  has  an  area  ol  about. 
75,000  square  miles,  or  half  as  much  again  as  the 
State  of  New  York.  Its  population  is  estimated 
by  the  Chinese  at  22,000,000.  It  is  well  watered, 
for  the  Siang  River,  a  tine  stream,  although  too 
shallow  during  the  winter  months  lor  anything 
but  light-draught  junks,  Hows  northerly  through 
it  into  the  Yang-tze.  The  upper  part  of  the  prov- 
ince is  open  and  gently  undulating,  growing  the 
finest  quality  of  tea.  As,  however,  the  southern 
portion  is  approached,  the  hills  change  into  moun- 
tains, the  scenery  becomes  grander,  the  population 
less  dense,  and  the  agricultural  resources  much 
diminished.  But  these  lower  regions  are  much 
more  valuable  from  the  point  of  view  ol  future 
development  as  the  lower  half  of  the  province,  for 
a  length  ol  two  hundred  miles  along  our  route, 
and  for  a  width  of  at  least  sixty  miles,  is  underlain 
with  certainly  three,  and  probably  more,  veins  of 
coal,  which,  curiously  enough,  is  both  bituminous 
and  anthracite.  It  took  but  small  flights  of  fancy  to 
see  future  trains  bearing  their  dark  burden  north- 
ward to  furnish  power  for  the  furnaces  and  mills 
that  will  be  built  in  central  China  to  convert  her 
ores  into  metals  or  work  her  raw  produce  of  cotton 
and  wool  and  hemp  into  articles  of  commerce; 
or  other  trains  south-bound  carrying  a  like  burden 
to  Canton  and  Hongkong  to  make  steam  for  the 
vessels  ol  all  nations,  bringing  goods  from  other 
lands  to  China,  and  taking  back  her  teas  and  silks. 


52  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


Si  Hue  t  luce  years  ago  the  Emperor  appointed, 
as  Governor  oi  Hu-nan,  Chen  Pao-cheng,  a  man 
of  modern  thought,  who  at  once  sel  aboul  to  break 
down  the  barriers  which  had  hitherto  shut  in  the 
province  from  therest  oi  the  empire  and  the  world 
at  large.  lie  introduced  electric  lighting  into 
Chang-sha,  the  capital,  established  schools  where 
scientific  subjects  were  taught,  urged  on  the  gen- 
eral government  the  advisability  and  desirability 
of  railroad  construction,  and  in  many  ways  opened 
the  door  for  the  entrance  of  Western  civilization. 
The  Empress  Dowager,  immediately  on  accession 
to  power,  removed  Chen,  and  appointed  in  his 
stead  as  governor,  Yu  Lien-san,  a  "conservative," 
an  official  of  high  character  and  attainments  from 
a  Chinese  point  of  viewT,  but  wdio  did  not  believe 
in  departing  from  customs  supported  by  lour 
thousand  years  of  precedents.  He  closed  the 
schools  and  set  about  to  undo  the  work  begun  by 
his  predecessor.  In  a  recent,  memorial  to  the 
throne,  he  apologized  for  his  tardiness  in  entirely 
uprooting  the  false  doctrines,  but  hoped  in  the 
end  to  bring  the  people  back  to  the  exclusive  study 
of  the  classics.  In  accordance  with  his  views  of 
what  was  right,  he  used  his  influence  to  thwart 
our  going,  even  to  the  extent  of  sending  word  for- 
bidding the  foreigners  to  enter  his  province.  It  is 
not  surprising  that  in  the  recent  "  Boxer  "  out- 
break the  sympathies  and  influence  of  Yu  were 
enlisted  on  the  anti-foreign  side. 


Chapter  II :   American  Concession  53 

The    extreme    position    hitherto    taken    by  the 
Hu-nanese  and  their  consequent  isolation  render 

them  unsurpassed  among  the  Chinese  as  interest- 
ing objects  for  study,  and  have  gained  for  their 
section  the  name  of  the  "Closed  Province  of 
China." 


Chapter 

III 

Hu-nan,    the    Closed    Province    of    China 

Tl  I  E  genera]  condition  of  affairs  as  to  the 
hostility  of  the  1 1  u-nanese  and  the  difficulty 
ol  travelling  through  Hu-rian  was  known 
before  our  leaving  New  York,  but  on  arriving  in 
Shanghai  it  was  found  that  the  political  disturb- 
ance following  the  coup  d'etat  executed  bv  the 
Empress  Dowager  and  the  beheading  of  certain 
members  of  the  Reform  or  Emperor's  Party,  had 
rendered  the  whole  Chinese  official  class  very 
cautious  about  taking  a  decided  stand  upon  any 
important  question,  especially  upon  one  looking 
to  the  invasion  of  the  country  by  foreigners,  even 
il  they  came  with  peaceful  intents.  A  stop  was 
made  in  Shanghai  only  long  enough  to  purchase 
provisions  and  equipment,  when  the  engineering 
statf  left  there  for  Hankow  to  begin  the  survey 
to  Canton. 

As  our  course  from  Hankow  lay  to  the  Nan- 
ling  Mountains,  which  form  the  divide  of  the 
water-shed  of  the  Yang-tze  Valley  from  that  of 
the  China  Sea,  along  the  Yang-tze  and  its  trib- 
utary the  Siang  for  a  distance  of  nearly  five 
hundred  miles,  it  was  decided  to  establish  head- 
quarters afloat,  and  thus  avoid  the  difficulties  and 
dangers  of  sleeping  on  shore,  except  when  the 
latter    was  absolutely    necessary.     One    morning 

54 


Chapter  III  :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province     55 

shortly  alter  reaching  Hankow,  and  while  the 
preparation  for  our  start  was  being  made,  I  set 
out  in  a  sampan  to  find  among  the  junks  in  the 
River  Han,  a  satisfactory  one  for  our  purpose. 
A  junk  is  a  picturesque  but  not  a  pretty  object, 


Junks  on  the  River  Han,  with   Hankow  in  the  Distance 


but,  in  that  flotilla  which  forms  a  solid  surface 
along-  the  banks  of  the  Han  for  at  least  two 
miles,  there  was  a  stern  that  caught  my  eve. 
The  ordinary  junk  stern  is  something  that  rivals 
any  stern  that  a  naval  architect  of  the  sixteenth 
century  ever  conceived,  but  this  special  one  had 
something:  which  singled   it  out   from  all  its  fel- 


56  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


lows.  Possibly  it  was  its  height,  for  perched  on 
it  one  could  imagine  himseli  a  gay  freebooter 
ploughing  the  Spanish  Main,  until  the  sight  of  a 
steel  tape  would  rudely  bring  him  back  to  the 
realization  thai  he  was  nothing-  but.  an  American 
engineer  making  a  survey  for  hire  ,  or  perhaps 
it  was  an  undefined  and  undistinguishable  «*race 
in  the  upward  curve  of  the  heavy  timber  on 
the  side  !  Whatever  it  was,  there  was  an  instant 
resolve  made  that  the  junk  of  which  that  stern 
formed  a  part  must  be  had.  On  hailing,  the  Lao- 
dah  (which  is  Chinese  for  captain)  shoved  his  pig- 
tail out  of  the  door  and  invited  us  all  on  board. 
With  trepidation  lest  his  demands  would  be  un- 
warrantably exorbitant,  we  gradually,  and  with 
much  circumlocution,  according  to  Chinese  eti- 
quette, communicated  our  wishes  to  charter  the 
boat  for  a  journey  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  or 
possibly  three  hundred  miles,  in  short  stages,  so 
that  the  time  might  occupy  a  month,  or  even  two. 
As  a  preliminary  to  what  was  evidently  about  to 
become  an  important  financial  negotiation,  and 
in  compliance  with  Chinese  custom,  the  Lao-dah, 
in  order  to  show  his  respect  for  us,  offered  tea. 
We,  with  a  still  higher  respect  for  ourselves, 
with  great  ceremony  and  greater  resolution,  de- 
clined the  same.  It  is  wonderful  wdiat  vile  stuff 
is  drunk  in  that  country,  where  the  finest  tea 
that  the  world  knows  comes  from  ;  but  the  na- 
tives consume  only  what  they  cannot  sell  or  give 


Chapter  III  :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province     57 

away.  After  a  long  session  with  Mrs.  Lao-dah — 
for  in  every  Chinese  junk  the  woman  seems  to 
command  —  the  Lao-dah  returned,  chin-chinned, 
and  said  that  he  would  take  us  for  forty  taels. 
Now  forty  taels  means  about  twenty-eight  dollars, 
gold,  and  that  was  to  include  the  boat,  the  crew 
of  eight  men,  with  their  rice  and  all  expenses,  for 
possibly  two  months.  Naturally  our  faces  be- 
trayed our  astonishment,  which  the  Lao-dah  en- 
tirely misunderstood,  and  apparently  fearing  that 
he  had  lost  the  trade,  begged  us  to  make  an  offer. 
We  finally  agreed  on  thirty-six  taels,  or  twenty- 
five  dollars.  Subsequently  we  discovered  that 
our  childlike  and  bland  young  friend,  knowing 
that  we  would  have  a  permit  to  pass  all  the  "  Lik- 
in  "  stations — that  is,  the  places  where  heavy  in- 
ternal customs  taxes  are  levied — had  made  this  low- 
price  in  order  to  secure  the  charter,  and  had  then 
laid  in  a  little  stock  of  dutiable  articles  to  trade 
in  on  his  own  account  ;  in  short,  he  made  us  his 
partners  in  a  smuggling  enterprise!  After  that 
I  had,  and  will  always  entertain,  the  highest  re- 
spect for  the  ability  of  a  Chinese  to  turn  an  hon- 
est penny. 

Early  in  December  we  started,  but  not  without 
much  anxiety  and  misgivings  on  the  part  of  the 
chief.  The  Chinese  officials  had  either  tried  to 
dissuade  me  from  going,  or  if,  like  the  Viceroy 
and  the  Director-General,  courageous  enough  to 
have   me  start,  nevertheless  impressed   upon  me 


58  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


the  necessity  for  extreme  caution  when  travers- 
ing I  lu-naii.  'The  foreign  residents  were  practi- 
cally unanimous  thai  the  trip  could  not  be  made, 
or,  if  made,  thai  a  land  survey  would  be  impos- 
sible, and  thai  we  would  be  compelled  to  remain 
practically  prisoners  in  our  junk,  although  un- 
der the  orders  of  Viceroy  Chang-  Chih-tung  we 
were  to  be  always  accompanied  by  a  guard  of 
Chinese  soldiers. 

The  Yang-tze,  even  at:  this  distance  of  over 
seven  hundred  miles  from  the  mouth,  is  still  a  noble 
stream,  with  a  width  of  a  mile,  and  a  minimum 
depth,  at  lowest  stage  of  water  in  winter,  of  six 
feet,  with  its  continual  procession  of  large  junks 
carrying  down  coal  from  Hu-nan,  opium  and  silk 
from  Sz-chuen,  wool  from  the  mountains  of  Ti- 
bet, and  passing  other  large  junks  carrying  up  in 
return,  yarn  from  India,  cottons  from  Lancashire, 
and  oil  from  America.  Its  banks,  when  not  high 
enough  to  be  above  flood-level,  are  built  up  with 
dykes,  behind  which  are  farms  of  rice,  oil-beans, 
cotton,  tobacco  and,  on  approaching  Hu-nan,  tea. 

For  about  one-hall  of  the  time  we  were  obliged 
to  sleep  on  shore,  where  camping  in  tents  was 
impossible  cm  account  of  the  great  curiosity  of 
the  people.  In  their  eagerness  to  see  a  "foreign 
devil,"  to  examine  his  short  hair,  to  feel  his  queer 
cloth  clothes,  to  inspect  his  extraordinary  big 
leather  boots — which  last  everywhere  seemed,  of 
all  our  belongings,  to  attract  the  most  attention — 


CO 


M 


6o  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


they  would  certainly  have  torn  down  any  tem- 
porary shelter;  and  at  such  moments  our  guard, 
in  spite  of  its  pretentious  proportions  oi  three 
hundred  soldiers,  would  have  been  of  little  use. 
In  fact,  the  only  benefit — which,  however,  was 
no  small  one — that  we  derived  from  our  guard, 
was  its  notification  to  the  people  that  we  were 
travelling  officially  and  under  the  protection  of 
the  government.  At  stopping-places  we  were 
immediately  surrounded  by  curious  natives,  on 
whose  faces  ever)'  human  sentiment,  from  won- 
derment to  fear,  or  even  hatred,  was  depicted. 
Our  preferred  sleeping-places  were  examination 
hails,  in  which  are  held  the  annual  examinations 
of  students  in  the  classics  for  literary  degrees, 
the  stepping-stone  for  political  preferment,  the 
ambition  of  every  Chinese,-  for  in  China  public 
office  means  wealth  and  power;  temples,  either 
public  of  the  Buddhist  faith,  or  private  ones  for 
ancestral  worship — the  latter  much  to  be  pre- 
ferred as  being  cleaner  and  better  tended  ;  tea- 
hongs  or  large  store-houses,  or,  as  a  last  resort, 
inns. 

In  the  north,  where  there  are  horses  and  where 
the  roads  concentrate  toward  Peking,  there  are 
enough  rich  officials  travelling  to  warrant  the 
maintenance  of  fairly  decent  accommodations. 
The  northern  inns  are  set  usually  in  a  compound 
in  which  the  travellers'  horses  are  stabled,  while 
the  inn  itself  with  two  stories  provides  furnished 


62  An  American  Engineer  in  China 

rooms     where    the    weary    wanderer   can   secure 

sonic  rest.  Rarely  do  these  inns  supply  food, 
which  the  traveller  is  supposed  to  carry  with 
him,  but  they  are  equipped  with  a  large  brick 
oven  called  a  kang,  where  the  lodgers  do  their 
cooking  in  common,  and  on  top  ol  which  they 
frequently  sleep  in  winter.  In  the  south  of  China 
the  inns  are  quite  different.  There  are  no  horses, 
and  there  are  rarely  any  grandee  travellers.  When 
the  latter  do  come  the}7  are  quartered  in  the  yamen 
of  the  local  officials,  or  in  temples  previously  en- 
gaged and  prepared.  The  southern  inn  is  not 
set  in  a  compound,  but  opens  directly  on  the  vil- 
lage street  or  country  road.  There  is  usually  a 
large  hall  containing"  the  kang,  rarely  arranged  to 
be  slept  on,  and  on  both  sides  of  the  hall  are  the 
sleeping-rooms,  which  are  more  like  prison-cells. 
Sometimes  there  is  a  window,  which  if  it  is 
"glazed"  is  done  so  with  thin  tissue  paper.  On 
arrival  at  such  a  place  the  foreigner  in  self-pro- 
tection has  to  barricade  his  door,  which  may  keep 
him  from  personal  contact  with  the  crowd,  but 
does  not  protect  him  from  observation.  It  is  not 
many  minutes  before  his  paper  window  is  fairly 
riddled  with  small  holes,  behind  each  one  of  which 
he  knows  there  is  an  almond-shaped  eye,  while  a 
glance  overhead  will  show  little  bright  beads  of 
light  reflecting  the  flicker  ol  the  Chinese  candle 
between  the  ceiling  boards,  the  eyes  of  boys  and 
men  lvinsr  on  the  floor  of  the  attic  and  taking  in 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province     63 

everything  from  their  point  of  vantage.  A  grunt- 
ing noise  under  foot  will  explain  the  stench,  that  has 
been  so  very  oppressively  evident,  as  arising  from 
the  pigsty  right  beneath  the  very  floor.  Then  a 
later  arrival  will  pile  on  the  kang  in  the  common 
hall  a  lot  <>l  straw  to  rekindle  the  fire,  whose  tear- 
producing  effect  is  a  welcome  boon  as  drowning 


Coolies  Waiting  to  be  Employed  as  Carriers 

for  a  moment  the  odors  of  the  pigsty  and  other 
things  worse,  which  cannot  be  defined.  But  even 
under  such  circumstances  sleep  will  come,  and 
at  last  the  smoke,  the  pigsty,  the  peeping  Toms, 
and  the  babel  in  the  hall  are  blotted  out. 

My  first  experience  with  the  morning  that  fol- 
lows I  shall  never  forget.  The  main  door  was 
barred    and    guarded    by    soldiers,    and    without, 


64  An  American  Engineer  in  China 

packed  solid  in  the  little  narrow  street,  was  a 
mass  ol  struggling  humanity  all  armed  with 
poles  ami  all   shouting.     "  Was    there   a   riot   in 


Coolie  Carrying  My  Bedding 

progress?"  I  asked.  "  Oh,  no,  these  are  the  coo- 
lies, three  hundred  in  number,  who  will  carry 
our  things  to-day."  A  hurried  breakfast  eaten, 
our  belongings  packed  up,  and  then  the  doors 
are  swung  back.  In  they  rush  !  There  are  more 
coolies  than  are  needed,  so  they  realize  that  first 
come,  first  employed,  for  there  is  no  order,  no 
system.  The  strongest  push  aside  the  weakest, 
and  seize  the  lightest  and  most  desirable  pack- 
ages. Our  cook-stove,  specially  constructed  for 
the  expedition,  is  seized  while  still  warm  and 
swung  from  two  bamboo    poles,  and  off  it  goes 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province     65 

hanging  on  the  shoulders  ot  lour  men.  Surely 
everything  will  be  broken,  or  if  not  broken,  lost, 
and  I  am  in  despair  all  day.  That  night,  on  reach- 
ing our  destination,  I  find  my  Chinese  boy,  as 
serene  and  unconcerned  as  ever,  getting  ready 
my  pot.  of  tea.  At  last  I  pluck  up  courage  to  ask 
him  if  certain  things  in  which  I  am  particularly 
interested  have  arrived  safely.  "  Have  got, 
massa."  Then  the  greater  question,  "  All  things, 
Yang?"  "  Yes,  all  tings,  massa."  I  never  under- 
stood  it,  and   finally  became    accustomed    to    it ; 


X 


A  Yamen  Runner 


but  the  only  explanation  of  tlie  phenomenon 
that  I  could  give  was  that  the  Chinese  way 
was  not  my  way,  and  that  in   spite  of  apparent 


66  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


disorder    there    was    somewhere    or    somehow    a 
system. 

In  order  that  the  people  along  the  route  might 
be  prepared  for  our  coming  and  warned  against 
molesting  us,  large  hand-written  placards  were 
posted  on  the  walls  oi  towns  in  advance  of  our 
coming',  bearing  the  official  chop  or  seal  of  the 
Viceroy,  the  Director-General,  and  the  Governor. 
These  placards  fully  explained  to  the  people  the 
nature  of  a  railway,  and  described  how  "its  bene- 
fits would  be  manifold.  Through  its  agency  the 
people  will  obtain  a  means  of  livelihood,  thus  sup 
pressing  vagrancy  and  robbery,  to  the  benefit  of 
all  localities.  An  equitable  price  will  be  paid  for 
all  land  required  for  the  road,  and  no  loss  will  be 
suffered  by  any  one.  The  blessings  of  the  road 
will  be  hundredfold  to  the  people — the  disadvan- 
tages none  whatever ; "  and  closing  with  these 
words  :  "  As  the  artisans  of  China  are  unfamiliar 
with  railroad  construction,  American  engineers 
have  been  engaged  to  come  here  to  survey  the 
line,  and  it  is  feared  that  some  persons,  ignorant 
of  the  purpose  of  their  coming,  may  take  alarm  ; 
therefore  this  proclamation  is  issued  for  their  in- 
struction. Let  it  be  known  to  the  scholars  and 
merchants,  and  people  at  large,  that  they  must 
peacefully  pursue  their  occupation  and  create  no 
trouble  or  obstruction.  The  military  and  the 
gentry  are  to  instruct  the  populace  to  create  no 
disturbance.     Should  rowdies  circulate  rumors  to 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province     67 

disturb  the  populace  and  gather  crowds  together, 
the  officials  are  ordered  to  assemble  the  police 
and  arrest  them,  and  deal  with  them  with  severity  ; 
no  mercy  shall  be  shown  them." 

What  is  called  in  the  proclamation  a  "  police- 
man "  is  an  attendant  of  the  magistrate's  yamen 
(official  residence),  and  is  an  individual  who  is 
even  more  loathed  than  feared  by  the  people,  if 
that  is  possible.  He  rarely  receives  wages,  and, 
in  fact,  is  said  frequently  to  pay  for  his  place. 
He  makes  his  living  by  a  system  of  extortions 
from  the  weak,  by  threatening  to  report  them 
for  petty  offences,  sometimes  not  even  committed; 
by  inflicting  extra  punishment  when  offenders 
are  convicted,  unless  bribed  ;  by  reporting  per- 
sons for  some  special  tax,  or  by  other  similar  dis- 
honest means.  As  showing  the  type  of  man  these 
yamen  runners  are,  1  recall  a  little  incident  which 
happened,  on  one  occasion,  alter  our  whole  party 
lost  its  way,  and  the  attending  officials,  the  guard, 
and  the  baggage  train  were  hopelessly  scattered. 
The  next  morning  early  I  started,  with  a  solitary 
guide,  for  the  agreed-on  point  of  rendezvous  for 
the  night  previous.  On  arrival  I  found  that  I 
was  the  first  of  the  foreigners  to  get  there,  and 
had  even  preceded  the  greater  part  of  the  bag- 
gage train.  Through  some  of  our  servants  who 
could  speak  English,  1  communicated  to  the  local 
official  that  1  would  like  to  inspect  the  town,  and 
was  thereupon  conducted  by  several  of  these  po- 


68  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


licemen  or  "  yamen  runners."  As  is  usual,  they 
were  armed  with  bamboo  sticks  about  four  feet 
long,  split  down  about  three-quarters  of  their 
length,  so  that  when  they  were  waved  in  the 
air  the  pieces  slapped  each  other  and  made  a 
terrifying  din.  With  these  sticks  they  clubbed 
back  the  people,  who  naturally  pressed  forward 
in  their  curiosity  to  see  a  foreigner  for  the  first 
time,  but  otherwise  were  perfectly  orderly  and  re- 
spectful I  soon  noticed  that  the  yamen  men  were 
exceedingly  careful  to  avoid  hitting  full-bodied 
men,  but  fearlessly  exhibited  their  importance  by 
striking  old  men,  cripples,  and  boys.  When  one 
of  them  raised  his  stick  to  strike  an  inoffensive 
old  woman  who  was  not  in  the  way  at  all,  I  felt 
obliged  to  interfere — an  act  which  was  greeted 
with  loud  shouts  of  approval  by  the  crowd. 
These  "  yamen  runners  "  are  a  cowardly,  despica- 
ble, lying  lot,  and  represent  one  of  the  great  causes 
of  discontent  that  the  masses  feel  toward  the  gov- 
erning class. 

On  this  occasion,  while  inspecting  the  town,  a 
high-grade  Chinese  funeral  was  taking  place. 
Nowr  a  Chinese  funeral  is  a  great  source  of  joy  to 
all  but  the  central  personage.  At  the  head  of  the 
procession  come  boys  bearing  placards  reciting 
the  virtues  of  the  deceased,  many  of  which  his 
neighbors  had  probably  failed  to  detect  in  life  ; 
then  follows  a  bier,  and  alter  that  a  collection  of 
various  eatables  and  silver  bullion,  all  in  paper  to 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province     69 

be  burned  at  the  grave,  so  as  to  provide  the  de- 
parted with  these  necessaries  on  his  long  journey  ; 
while  the  coffin  itself  is  surmounted  by  a  gro- 
tesque and  ridiculous  dragon,  intended  probably 
to  frighten  away  the  evil  Spirit.  Before  and  be- 
hind and  on  both  sides  are  hired  boys  sending  olf 
enough  tire-crackers  to  supply  a  small-sized  New 
England  village  on  the  Fourth  of  July.  It  was  very 
hard  on  the  town  that  two  such  shows,  a  manda- 
rin's funeral  and  the  first  foreigner,  should  both 
be  playing  at  the  same  time.  For  a  moment  the 
crowd  hesitated,  but  onlv  for  a  moment!  That 
mandarin  had  his  paid  placard-bearers  and  his 
fire-crackers,  but  otherwise  went  to  his  grave  iin- 
mourned  and  unsung.      I  had  the  crowd. 


yo  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


Hu-nan  :  The  Entrance 

On  the  morning  of  December  24,  1898,  we 
crossed  a  long  bridge,  composed  of  stone  beams 
thirty  feet  long,  with  an  attractive  temple  at  the 
farther  end,  into  Hu-nan,  which  we  had  already 
termed  the  "enemy's  country."  From  that  point 
on  we  became  an  increasing  source  of  wonder- 
ment and  amusement  to  the  natives.  Christmas 
night  found  us  at  a  little  town  called  Ping-shui 
(literally  "Still  Water"),  and  all  preparations 
were  made  for  a  proper  dinner  after  the  day's 
work.  We  were  located  in  a  tea-hong,  opening 
directly  on  the  village  street,  and  with  little  pro 
vision  for  keeping  out  the  crowd,  so  that  the  room 
in  which  we  were  dining  was  filled  with  natives, 
standing  four  or  five  deep  around  our  table,  and 
then  stretching  to  the  door  and  even  to  the  street 
in  a  solid  crowd.  It  was  a  singular  thought  to 
realize  that  our  jollity  that  night  was  something 
more  than  the  customary  Christmas  celebration. 
It  was  the  first  message  to  these  people  of  a  pos- 
sible betterment  in  their  condition,  and  a  promise 
of  the  breaking  of  the  bonds  which  have  held  them 
down  for  so  many  centuries,  and  our  song  of  how 
"  from  every  mountain-side  let  freedom  ring"  had 
that  night  possibly  a  special  significance.  But 
perhaps  still  more  striking  was  the  fact  that  this 
message  of  freedom  was  being  carried  by  repre- 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province     71 

sentatives  of  the  youngest  nation  upon  earth  to 
the  oldest.  Our  actions,  our  songs,  our  very 
food,  but  above  all,  our  forks  and  knives,  were  a 
source  of  inexplicable  astonishment  to  the  people; 
but  when  our  plum  pudding — a  thoughtful  gift  oi 
an  English  lady  in  Hankow — appeared,  decorated 
with  holly  and  blazing  in  true  Yule-tide  style,  a 
look  of  terror  appeared  on  their  faces.  The  climax, 
however,  was  reached  when  a  flash-light  picture  of 
the  scene  was  taken.  When  the  magnesium  pow- 
der flared  up,  the  crowd  broke  and  ran.  Probably 
the  natives  of  Ping-shui  stoutly  maintain  to-day 
that  "foreign  devils"  are  huge  men  with  beards, 
who  feed  on  uncooked  meat  which  they  tear  to 
pieces  with  short  swords  and  spears,  and  which 
excites  them  to  such  a  degree  that  they  shout  loud 
and  often,  and  in  the  midst  of  their  excitement  eat 
flames.  I  have  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  some 
such  idea  is  generally  prevalent  in  that  town  to- 
day. 

After  such  extraordinary  exhibitions  it  is  little 
wonder  that  so  unenlightened  a  race  as  the  Chi- 
nese forms  so  erroneous  an  estimate  of  all  for- 
eigners. Fearing  lest,  our  St.  Nicholas  zeal  might 
create  a  too  strongly  false  impression,  I  sent  for 
the  local  officials  and  explained  to  them  that  we 
were  but  celebrating  the  greatest  day  in  our 
calendar — a  day  that  is  to  us  of  the  same  impor- 
tance that  New-Year's  is  to  them.  With  that  out- 
ward  politeness  that  is  so  charming,  and  at  times 


72 


An  American  Engineer  in  China 


so  exasperating! v  used  as  a  cloak  or  subterfuge, 
they  expressed  their  regrets  at  their  ignorance, 
and  said  that  had  they  but  known  it,  they  would 
have  been  glad  to  have  shown  some  special  honor, 
to  both  the  day  and  us. 


The  Procession 


Two  official  chairs  are  seen.  The  flags  on  the  right  indicate  the  posi- 
tion of  the  military  commander.  The  foreground  is  a  flooded  rice- 
field 


From  now  on  we  were  conscious  of  the  precau- 
tions taken  by  the  Viceroy  for  our  protection. 
Our  guard  was  largely  increased,  so  that  our  pro- 
cession, including  mandarins  with  their  attendants, 
soldiers,  coolies   carrying  baggage  and  supplies, 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province     73 

consisted  frequently  of  from  live  hundred  to  m\ 
hundred  men,  and  as  they  marched  in  straggling 
order  and  in  single  file,  the  distance  from  the  head 
to  the  rear  of  the  column  would  frequently  be  five 


Placard  Bearers  who  Preceded  the  Procession  to  Announce 
Our  Coming 

miles.  The  Chinese  love  a  show,  and  this  pro- 
cession offered  opportunities  that  could  not  be 
neglected.  Although  the  details  were  largely  a 
matter  of  the  degree  of  imagination  possessed  by 


74  An  American  Engineer  in  China 

the  local  functionary  in  charge,  we  were  usually 
preceded  by  men  or  ragged  boys  carrying  plac- 
ards or  wooden  standards  announcing  our  com- 
ing, and  commanding  the  people  to  give  place. 
Then  there  would  he  the  Hags  ol  the  commander 
and  of  the  regiment  acting  as  guard;  soldiers 
armed  with  spears,  tridents,  two-handed  swords, 
flintlock  or.  at  times,  even  match-lock  guns.  The 
uniform  of  the  Chinese  soldier  is  a  comfortable 
but  a  most  unmilitary  collection  of  garments. 
The  coat,  in  its  hang,  resembles  a  cloak  with  wide, 
loose  sleeves.  It  is  of  a  plain  color,  with  a  wide 
marginal  band  of  another  hue.  On  the  breast  and 
back  are  marked,  usually  on  white  discs  sewed 
to  the  coat,  the  number  of  the  man,  the  desig- 
nation of  the  organization  to  which  he  belongs, 
and  his  position  in  the  ranks.  The  trousers  are 
of  dark  blue  cotton,  and  usually  tied  close  around 
the  ankles.  The  queue  is  worn  wrapped  about  the 
head,  and  the  whole  enclosed  in  a  dark  blue  cot- 
ton turban.  Beneath  the  coat  is  a  waistcoat  with 
tight-fitting  sleeves  projecting  about  six  inches  be- 
yond the  ends  of  the  fingers.  The  wearer  can  let 
the  projections  hang  down,  when  they  protect  the 
hands  from  the  weather,  or  can  convert  them  into 
a  muff  by  merely  clasping  his  hands  within  the 
long  sleeves.  When  he  wishes  to  use  his  hands 
he  rolls  his  sleeves  up.  If  the  weather  be  cold  he 
wears  as  many  undercoats  as  he  pleases.  He  car- 
ries no  knapsack,  but  instead  a  cotton  bag  some- 


76  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


what  like  a  short  golf-club  bag-,  which  he  wears 
diagonally  across  his  back,  suspended  by  a  cord 
over  one  shoulder  and  the  chest,  and  in  it  he  car- 
ries all  the  articles  needed  for  a  march,  his  to- 
bacco pipe,  fan,  and  paper  umbrella! 

According  to  the  instructions  of  the  Viceroy, 
we  were  accompanied  by  the  local  magistrate 
having  complete  jurisdiction  over  the  Hsien,  or 
district  through  which  we  were  travelling,  and 
which  average  in  area  from  about  thirty  to 
forty  miles  square.  In  addition  there  were  the 
mandarins  representing  the  Viceroy  and  Director. 
General,  always  one  and  sometimes  more  dele- 
gated by  the  provincial  Governor,  and  a  military 
mandarin  of  high  rank  commanding  the  guard, 
with  the  title  of  General,  and  of  high  "button" 
rank  of  the  blue  or  red.  The  mandarins  were 
carried  in  their  official  sedan  chairs,  the  posi- 
tion of  the  magistrate  himself  being  denoted  by 
a  large  gorgeous  red  umbrella.  The  Hsien  mag- 
istrate is  the  official  who  comes  in  direct  contact 
with  the  people,  and  who  dispenses  justice,  au- 
thority, and  bad  government  with  no  uncertain 
hand.  Two  or  three  Hsiens  go  to  form  a  Pre- 
fecture, the  Prefect  in  command  reporting  to 
the  Governor  or  some  agent  named  by  him. 
These  various  officials  receive  as  a  regular  emolu- 
ment a  sum  much  less  than  what  the  necessary  ex- 
penses attendant  upon  their  office  are  known  to 
be.    The  difference  between  their  regular  compen- 


78  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


sation  and  actual  income,  which  latter  is  supposed 
to  be  large,  is  procured  by  deliberately  appropri- 
ating a  portion  of  the  tax  levy,  or,  perhaps  more 
usually,  through  an  ingenious  system  of  squeezes 
or  extortions.  From  a  foreign  point  of  view, 
they  form  a  class  intensely  ignorant.  The  people 
hate  them,  but,  on  account  of  their  almost  un- 
controlled power,  fear  them  ;  while  the  magis- 
trates, on  the  other  hand,  seem  to  fear  the  people, 
and  hesitate  to  exercise  much  authority  over  them 
as  a  mass,  preferring  apparently  to  reserve  their 
power  for  extortions  in  individual  cases.  The 
very  evident  mutual  fear  of  the  governing  and 
governed  classes  was  striking  and  interesting. 
This  will  be  referred  to  later. 

Some  of  these  officials  are  not  lacking  in  the 
social  traits  which  we  call  good  fellowship,  and 
which  made  more  than  one  a  welcome  guest  at 
the  evening  gathering  between  dinner  and  bed- 
time, when  our  regret  was  that  the  conversation 
had  to  pass  through  the  halting  medium  of  an  in- 
terpreter. There  was  one  magistrate  who  took 
most  kindly  to  foreign  ways,  foreign  food,  and 
even  to  foreign  whiskev,  with  a  particular  fond- 
ness for  the  variety  of  the  last  known  as  Old 
Glenlivet. 

At  the  time  of  passing  through  his  jurisdiction 
our  headquarters  were  afloat,  so  that  he  joined 
us  with  his  junk,  and  every  night  his  place  at  din- 
ner was  regularly  set,  and  on  returning  to  his  own 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan.  the  Closed  Province     79 


boat  he  always  took  with  him  that  comforting  and 
comfortable  glow  so  frequently  the  accompani- 
ment of  Scotland's  liquid  production.  One  night 
as  he  was  leaving  after  dinner,  dressed  as  usual  in 
his  long  embroidered  official  robes,  with  his  button 
and  his  peacock  feather,  "chin-chinning"  or  bow- 
ing his  farewell  as  he  walked  backwards  down  the 
narrow  plank  connecting  the  junk  with  the  shore, 
there  was  suddenly  a  series  of  rapid  gyrations, 
like  the  rotating  of  the  sails  of  a  windmill,  then  a 
void  in  the  night  air,  followed  a  moment  later  by 
a  loud  splash,  immediately  preceded  by  certain 
articulations  which  fortunately  our  knowledge  of 
Chinese  was  not  sufficient  to  catch  exactly,  but 
concerning  which  it  is  hoped  that  the  pen  of  the 
recording  angel  will  follow  the  example  of  mine. 
Thanks  to  his  queue  and  the  united  efforts  of  two 
coolies  and  a  boat  hook,  he  was  at  last  placed  on 
his  native  soil. 

The  Chinese  costume  does  not  diminish  the  be- 
draggled effect  of  an  involuntary  bath.  The  next 
evening  he  called  as  usual  at  the  dinner-hour, 
and  expressed  his  deep  mortification  at  the  pre- 
vious evening's  catastrophe,  explaining  at  great 
length  that  his  servant,  an  unfeeling  rascal,  had 
held  the  light  in  the  wrong  place.  We  begged 
him  not  to  mention  it;  that  we  understood  the 
phenomenon  perfectly  ;  that  our  servants  had  been 
known  to  hold  double  lights,  bringing  us  to  grief, 
and,  in  fact,  it  was  well  authenticated  that  in  our 


So  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


large  cities,  where  lights  were  firmly  fixed  on  iron 
poles,  the  latter  have  been  seen  to  wave.  This 
explanation  gave  him  great  comfort.  lie  was  a 
nice  fellow,  and  1  hope  some  day  to  see  him  be- 
come a  member  of  the  Tsung-li  Yamen,  for  he 
would  honor  that  or  any  other  board. 

The  people  in  this  northeastern  part  of  the  prov- 
ince are  generally  well-to-do,  living  in  tiled-roof 
farm-houses  or  little  hamlets.  The  valleys  are 
well  and  carefully  cultivated,  the  principal  crops 
being  tea  and  rice,  the  former  for  sale  and  export, 
the  latter  for  domestic  consumption.  The  Chinese, 
in  all  their  habits,  wants,  and  tastes,  are  extremely 
simple  beings.  As  variety  and  change  seem  to 
possess  no  charm,  their  clothes  in  the  country  are 
invariably  the  same — of  indigo-dyed  cotton — while 
their  food  consists  of  the  crop  most  easily  grown 
in  the  locality,  which  in  Southern  China  is  rice, 
and  in  Northern  China  millet.  This  rice  is  eaten 
flavored  with  pickled  cabbage  or  other  vegetable, 
and  sometimes  relieved  with  fish,  but  rarely  with 
meat.  In  the  case  of  a  coolie — that  is,  of  the  low- 
est class — such  will  be  the  diet  the  year  through; 
if  more  well-to-do  the  list  will  be  enlarged  by  the 
addition  of  pork,  mutton,  chickens,  ducks,  or  eggs. 
Since  food  cannot  be  cut  on  the  table  with  chop- 
sticks, meat  is  sliced  into  small  pieces  before  cook- 
ing, and  then  stewed.  The  higher-class  Chinese 
are  great  gourmets,  as  the  following  menu  of  a 
dinner  given  us    by  the  magistrate  of  Siang-yin 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province     81 

will  show,  the  table  being  set  with  a  number  of 
small  dishes  containing  fancy  cakes  and  sweet- 
meats: 

Chicken  giblets  and  ham, 

Sharks'  fins, 

Pigeon's  eggs, 

Wood  fungus, 

Dough  cakes, 

Lotus  seeds  (hot), 

Stewed  fish, 

Stewed  chicken  and  pork, 

Snails, 

Bamboo  shoots, 

Stewed  mutton, 

Meat  cakes  and  sweet  grapes, 

Roast  pig, 

Pork,  fish,  and  vegetables  boiled  in  a  chafing-dish 

on  the  table, 
Rice. 

We  had  not  been  long  in  Hu-nan  before  receiv- 
ing illustrative  warnings  of  possible  trouble.  On 
approaching  Yo-chou,  a  large  and  flourishing  city, 
situated  near  the  junction  of  the  Siang  and  Yang- 
tze rivers,  the  gate-way  to  the  province,  and  which 
has  since  been  declared  a  treaty  port,  we  received 
word  by  courier  from  the  Governor  of  Hu-nan  that 
on  no  account  must  we  go  near  Yo-chou,  let  alone 
enter  it,  as  ten  thousand  students  were  gathered 
there  from  all  parts  of  the  province  trying  to  pass 
the  examination  for  the  first  degree,  and  that  the 
authorities  would  not  be  answerable  for  the  conse- 


82  An  American  Engineer  in  China 

quences  should  we  be  found  in  their  vicinity.  Ap- 
parently Chinese  students  do  not  differ  essentially 
from  those  of  other  lands.  I  replied  to  the  Gov- 
ernor's messenger  that  Yo-chou  was  a  place  of  so 
much  importance,  that  a  survey  of  it  was  necessary. 
On  reaching  the  outskirts  we  were  met  by  a  large 
guard  and  politely  conducted  by  a  detour  outside 
of  the  city  along  the  river-shore  to  our  junks 
where  we  slept,  and  which  were  flanked  on  both 
sides  by  gun-boats.  The  first  night,  just  before 
retiring,  a  messenger  came  from  the  Hsien  Magis- 
trate announcing  that  a  riot  was  imminent,  that 
the  students  had  threatened  to  burn  the  Roman 
Catholic  Mission,  whose  priest  was  the  sole  for- 
eigner in  Yo-chou,  and  that  the  latter  had  tied.  We 
could  do  nothing  as  we  were  prisoners.  The  rea- 
son for  sending  us  word  was  not  clear,  unless  as 
a  notice  of  what  we  ourselves  might  expect.  Per- 
haps the  described  riot  did  not  occur  at  all.  We 
never  knew.  It  is  hard  dealing  with  a  Chinese 
official.  One  is  never  sure.  The  next  day,  under 
a  strong  military  escort,  I  inspected  the  city  and 
saw  no  students. 

Chang-sha,  the  capital  of  Hu-nan,  is  one  of  the 
most  interesting  places  in  the  whole  empire,  on 
account  of  its  extreme  exclusiveness.  Only  two 
or  three  foreigners,  but  no  missionary,  had  ever 
been  within  the  city,  and  these  few  were  smug- 
gled in  in  closed  chairs.  Like  all  Chinese  cities, 
it  is  heavily  walled,  and  strongly  gated,  the  gates 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province     83 


being  locked  at  night,  giving  a  most  mediaeval 
air.  The  population  is  estimated  by  the  Chinese 
to  be  about  a  million,  but  that  figure,  like  all  oth- 
ers in  the  same  line,  is  probably  an  exaggeration. 
Five  hundred  thousand  would  seem  more  likely  to 
be  nearer  the  mark.  The  streets  are  narrow,  being 
but  six  to  twelve  feet  wide.  On  them  the  shops 
open  directly,  and  in  front  of  the  shops  are  fre- 
quently stationed  small  booths.  During  business 
hours,  the  whole  shop-front,  consisting  of  wooden 
shutters,  is  taken  down,  exposing  the  interior,  so 
that  a  street  resembles  a  bazaar,  or  rather  an  ar- 
cade, as  it  is  frequent lv  roofed  over  with  bamboo 
mats.  Hanging  down  in  front  of  the  shops  are 
long,  swinging  signs,  sometimes  indicating  the 
kind  of  goods  for  sale,  but  more  frequently  being 
felicitous  greetings.  I  saw  one  that  was  trans- 
lated, "Prices  according  to  mutual  agreement" 
■ — no  fixed  price  for  that  tradesman. 

On  account  of  the  local  traditions,  which  were 
to  be  broken  if  possible,  and  on  account  of  the 
general  attitude  of  the  Governor,  it  was  deemed 
essential  that  not  only  should  our  expedition  enter 
the  city,  but  that  we  should  be  received  publicly, 
and  with  full  honors,  according  to  the  Chinese 
ritual,  by  the  Governor  himself.  1,  therefore, 
with  the  "  flag-ship "  and  an  attending  gun-boat, 
pushed  ahead  of  the  survey  party,  and  arrived 
at  Chang-sha  on  January  7th  at  eleven  o'clock  in 
the  forenoon.     Our  coming  was  expected;  a  tri- 


84  An  American  Engineer  in  China 

umphal  arch  had  been  erected  on  the  shore — an 
arch,  by  the  way,  as  we  afterwards  learned,  we 
were  nol  expected  to  pass  through,  but  which 
we  did,  nevertheless — and  as  our  junk  was  poled 
np  to  the  landing-place  through  a  lane  opened 
among  the  other  boats,  a  great  crowd  came  down 
to  see  us.  Immediately  on  mooring,  the  local 
magistrate,  in  his  official  robes,  called  and  extend- 
ed a  greeting.  I  then,  without  delay,  sent  my 
Chinese  visiting-card  to  the  Governor,  announced 
my  arrival  in  his  capital  city,  and  stated  that  1 
desired,  accompanied  by  my  whole  staff,  to  call 
upon  him  and  pay  my  respects.  What  followed 
was  a  good  illustration  of  Chinese  diplomacy,  the 
roundabout  ways  of  which  were  one  of  the  diffi- 
culties that  beset  our  movements.  The  Governor 
replied  that  he  was  glad  to  hear  of  our  safe  ar- 
rival, but  that  he  would  not  trouble  us  to  call,  in- 
stead of  which,  accompanied  by  the  chief  officers 
of  the  province,  he  would  call  on  us  the  next 
morning  at  eleven.  With  many  complimentary 
phrases,  I  immediately  pointed  out  that  not  only 
did  Chinese  etiquette,  but  even  foreign  etiquette, 
demand  that  a  Governor  should  have  the  stranger 
call  on  him,  and  as  my  staff  would  arrive  that 
evening,  and  as  he  was  apparently  free  at  eleven 
o'clock  the  next  morning,  I  proposed  that  we 
should  all  visit  him  formally  at  that  hour.  Word 
then  came  from  the  Governor  that  he  regretted 
that  he  could  not  receive  me  at  eleven,  because  at 


hfl 

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O 


86  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


that  hour  he  would  be  engaged  in  inspecting  his 
troops   at   their   archery    practice;  therefore    he 

wished  us  a  pleasant  and  prosperous  journey  on- 
ward trom  Chang-sha.  Of  course  there  was 
nothing  then  for  us  to  do  but  put  ourselves  en- 
tirely at  his  convenience  for  any  hour  of  the  day 
or  evening  when  he  would  be  free  from  the  ex- 
actions of  watching  the  archers.  Then  the  ex- 
cuse was  offered  that  he  had  made  no  prepara- 
tions to  receive  distinguished  foreigners.  This 
requirement  we,  of  course,  at  once  waived.  Then 
his  yamen  (official  residence)  was  too  small.  We 
replied  that  we  knew  that  his  yamen  was  as  large 
as  that  of  the  Viceroy,  and  that  the  latter  had 
found  no  difficulty  in  receiving  us.  When  it  was 
learned  that  the  Viceroy  had  given  us  an  audience, 
the  whole  affair  assumed  a  different  aspect,  and  a 
long  conference  with  those  versed  in  the  intrica- 
cies of  Chinese  etiquette  ensued,  during  which  a 
small  diagram  which  I  had  made  in  my  note-book 
illustrating  the  viceregal  reception  played  a  promi- 
nent part.  It  was  finally  decided  that  Chang 
Chih-tung,  in  permitting  our  chairs  to  be  carried 
to  a  certain  place  and  in  a  certain  manner,  had  used 
the  same  ceremony  that  a  provincial  treasurer, 
who  ranks  next  to  the  Governor,  was  entitled  to 
have  accorded  him.  Clearly  a  man  who  had  been 
thus  received  could  not  be  unceremoniously  re- 
fused an  audience.  Then  the  Governor  said  he 
would  receive  me  alone,  an  offer  that  was  respect- 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province     87 

fully  declined,  and  finally  he  ventured,  as  a  com- 
promise, that  I  might  select  as  companions  three 
members  of  my  staff.  1  assured  his  Excellency 
that  my  staff  was  composed  of  equally  distin- 
guished men,  and  that  any  invidious  comparison 
in  the  way  of  selection  was  out  of  the  question, 
but  as  it  was  now  nearly  midnight — for  more 
than  twelve  hours  had  been  consumed  in  the  di- 
plomatic intercourse — that  I  would  not  trouble 
him  to  reply  immediately,  but  hoped  that  when 
morning  came  he  would  see  his  way  clear  to  re- 
ceive us  all.  At  10.30  the  next  forenoon  he  sent 
eleven  official  chairs  from  his  own  household,  one 
for  each  of  the  foreigners  and  Messrs.  Woo  and 
Lo,  the  secretaries  of  H.  E.  Sheng,  and  a  large 
guard  of  soldiers  under  the  personal  command  of 
General  Liu  Kao-chao,  the  military  commandant 
of  the  capital.  With  his  trumpeters  and  flag- 
bearers  preceding;  with  the  genial  and  portly 
general  himself  at  the  head  of  the  troops ;  with 
our  chairs  in  line,  from  the  leading  one  of  which 
the  chief  engineer  waved  a  small  American  flag 
— we  entered  the  city,  the  first  foreign  party  to 
do  so  publicly  and  with  official  honors,  and  very 
proud  to  feel  that  the  hist  foreign  flag  to  wave 
within  Chang-sha  walls  should  be  that  of  the 
great  republic.  Thus  fell  Ilu-nan's  strongest 
tradition  !  Although  the  streets  were  jammed 
with  people  and  the  houses  along  the  route  filled 
to  overflowing,  there  was  not  heard  a  single  op- 


An  American  Engineer  in  China 


probrious  epithet  or  even  impolite  reference.  As 
a  general  thing',  the  people  seemed  glad  to  see 
ns,  or,  at  the  worst,  merely  exhibited  a  stolid  in- 
difference or,  more  usually  an  inordinate  curios- 
ity. The  reception  by  the  Governor  was  all 
that  could  be  desired.  Our  chairs  were  carried 
into  the  inner  court,  where  we  were  met  by  a  per- 
sonal representative  of  the  Governor,  to  whom 
our  Chinese  cards  were  given.  These,  placed  in 
order  of  rank,  he  carried  in  his  right  hand  above 
his  head,  and  so  conducted  us  to  the  first  reception- 
room,  where  we  were  presented  to  the  provincial 
officers,  such  as  the  Treasurer,  Salt  Commis- 
sioner, and  others,  and  then  by  them  led  to  a  sec- 
ond reception-room,  where  we  were  presented  to 
his  Excellency  Vu  Lien-san.  The  Governor  was 
dressed  in  his  official  robes,  which  at  that  time 
of  the  year  consisted  of  sable.  Wearing  his  red 
button  and  peacock  feather  and  other  insignia  of 
high  rank,  he  received  us  in  a  most  gracious  and 
polite  manner.  He  is  a  man  of  medium  size,  has 
an  iron-gray  mustache  and  a  small  gray  imperial, 
with  an  intelligent  face  and  great  ceremony  of 
manner.  He  inquired  about  our  work,  expressed 
his  interest  in  its  outcome,  and  his  belief  that  a 
railway  would  be  of  enormous  benefit  to  his  peo- 
ple, and  assured  me  that  he  had  issued  full  in- 
structions which  would  insure  the  party  cordial 
treatment  for  the  rest  of  our  journey.  The  inter- 
view lasted  about  fifteen  minutes,  when  we  were 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province     89 

reconducted  to  our  chairs,  and  returned  to  our 
boat  by  the  same  way  in  which  we  came. 

The  shops  of  Chang-sha  will  compare  favorably 
with  the  shops  of  any  other  city  in  China,  display- 
ing- a  full  line  of  articles  of  Chinese  and  of  foreign 
manufacture;  in  fact,  so  wide  a  range  of  choice  is 
there  that  we  were  even  able  to  stock  our  larder 
with  a  good  supply  of  Munich  beer  in  the  orig- 
inal bottles. 


90  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


Hu-nan  :   The  Interior 

When  the  American  party  Left  Chang-sha,  two 

of  our  boats,  nicknamed  the  Mary  Ann  and  Consort, 
were  exchanged  for  three  smaller  junks  of  lighter 
draught,  as  the  former  were  too  large  to  proceed 
farther  at  the  existing  low  stage  of  the  river. 


River  Gunboat 

While  on  the  Siang  our  flotilla  was  always 
accompanied  by  one  or  more  river  gunboats. 
These  boats  are  intended  to  protect  the  trading- 
junks  from  attacks  of  river  pirates,  which  would 
otherwise  be  of  frequent  occurrence.  They  are 
from  fifty  to  seventy-five  feet  in  length,  with  a 
beam  of  eight  to  ten   feet,  are  flat-bottomed,  and 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province     91 


draw  but  one  foot.  On  the  overhanging  stern  is 
a  little  cabin  for  the  commander,  the  crew  sleep- 
ing at  night  under  an  awning  stretched  over  the 
boat.  They  are  constructed  of  a  native  wood 
somewhat  resembling  yellow  pine,  which  is  oiled 
only,  so  that  the  wood  is  left  bright  and  its  showy 
grain  fully  brought  out.  They  are  furnished 
with  a  square  sail  stiffened  with  bamboo  slats, 
hoisted  on  a  pine  mast  without  stays.  If  there  is 
an  adverse  wind  or  none  at  all,  they  can  be  easily 
rowed.  They  are  armed  with  a  small  cast-iron 
cannon,  about  a  three  or  a  six  pounder,  fixed  on 
the  bow,  while  the  crew  of  eight  to  twelve  men 
are  furnished  with  swords  and  muskets,  the  latter 
being  generally  of  a  very  old  type,  even  match- 
locks being  not  rare.  These  gunboats  are  always 
kept  in  the  pink  of  condition  and  repair.  The 
sails  are  of  cotton  canvas,  sometimes  colored  blue, 
and  must  be  constantly  changed,  as  we  never  saw 
one  in  bad  order.  The  crew  see  to  it  that  the 
boat  itself  is  always  shipshape  and  spotlessly 
clean  ;  in  fact,  when  any  one  boards  a  gunboat 
one  of  the  crew  immediately  presents  a  wet  mop, 
on  which  the  feet  must  be  wiped.  All  this  appears 
most  striking  in  a  country  where  the  direct  oppo- 
site, in  the  way  of  untidiness  and  uncleanliness 
and  lack  of  attention  to  repair,  is  the  universal 
rule.  Mow  the  gunboats  ever  escaped  contami- 
nation I  could  not  learn  ;  but  they  have,  and  the 
traveller  is  thankful. 


92  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


At  night  our  boats  were  brought  close  together, 
with  gunboats  on  the  flanks  to  protect  them  from 
the  petty  river  thieves.  Watch  was  kept  faith- 
fully, sentries  being  armed  with  a  loud  bamboo 
rattle,  which  they  sounded  at  intervals  of  every 
ten  minutes.  Ever}  where  in  China  the  night 
watchman  is  thus  supplied,  with  the  idea  of  fright- 
ening away  thieves.  The  practical  result,  is,  how- 
ever, to  give  exact  information  of  the  whereabouts 
of  the  guard,  and  enable  the  thief  to  lie  in  wait- 
ing until  the  guard  has  passed  on  his  rounds. 
It  is  the  custom  to  give  the  attending  guard  a 
"  cumsha  "  or  substantial  gratuity.  On  one  oc- 
casion we  gave  a  present  to  the  crew  of  a  gun- 
boat the  day  before  they  left  us.  The  captain,  to 
show  his  appreciation,  had  double  guards  set  that 
night,  who  sounded  their  rattles  without  cessa- 
tion, making  sleep  an  impossibility.  After  that 
we  gave  no  more  presents  until  we  were  sure 
that  we  would  permanently  part  company  with 
that  crew. 

It  was  not  long  before  it  became  desirable  to 
procure  a  horse  to  enable  one  of  the  engineers  to 
ride.  This  was  no  easy  matter,  as  horses  are  used 
but  little.  However,  we  finally  found  a  man  who 
could  accommodate  us,  and  earl}'  the  next  morn- 
ing he  brought  around  for  our  inspection  an 
animal  that  he  called  a  horse,  but  which,  had  its 
ears  been  longer,  might  have  passed  as  a  large 
donkey.     Price,  40  taels.     We  looked  him  over, 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province     93 

an  operation  not  requiring  much  time,  and  bid  10 
taels.  The  owner  replied  that  40  taels  was  his 
lowest  price,  but  if  we  meant  business  he  would 
say  35  taels,  or  would  consider  an  offer.  We 
assured  him  of  our  business  intentions,  and  raised 
our  figure  to  12  taels.  A  horse  trade  is  always 
an  interesting-  ceremony,  but  how  much  more  so 
under  these  circumstances,  where  a  foreigner  was 
to  supply  the  victim  !  Each  bid  and  counter-prop- 
osition was  received  with  loud  shouts  of  ap- 
proval by  the  crowd,  who  offered  advice  freely 
and  impartially  to  both  principals,  for  they  were 
divided  in  their  desire  to  see  the  foreigner  swind- 
led and  in  their  anxiety  not  to  establish  too  high 
a  market  value  for  horseflesh.  When  the  differ- 
ence between  the  negotiators  became  so  small  that 
a  trade  was  evidently  in  sight,  it  was  suggested 
that  we  go  within  the  temple  where  we  had  spent 
the  night  and  conclude  matters,  and  where  at  last 
we  reached  an  agreement  of  20  taels,  saddle  in- 
cluded. Our  money  was  in  bullion,  for  the  tael 
is  not  a  coin,  but  a  weight  of  silver,  and  the  clos- 
est approximation  to  20  taels  that  we  could  make 
was  i9TVo>  which  our  Chinese  friend  declined  as 
not  according  to  compact.  We  told  him  we 
would  make  up  the  difference  by  throwing  in 
something,  and  for  him  to  select.  After  inspect- 
ing our  belongings  he  picked  out  an  empty  Apol- 
linaris  bottle,  saying  that  he  had  owned  a  bottle 
once  and  had  found  it  very  useful,  but  some  years 


94  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


since  it  had  been  unfortunately  broken.  We  told 
him  that  we  too  came  from  a  country  where  the 
bottle  was  appreciated  and  highly  valued,  and  for 
him  to  choose  again.  In  the  meantime  our  servants 
had  packed  nearly  everything  preparatory  to  the 
day's  march,  and  the  only  portable  thing  left,  and 
that  of  course  had  no  value,  was  the  rind  of  a  pu- 
maloe,  a  kind  of  orange  about  the  size  of  a  musk- 
melon.  This  empty  rind  he  was  offered,  and,  to 
our  surprise  it  was  promptly  and  gladly  accepted. 
Whether  he  saw  some  special  virtue  in  it,  whether 
he  had  not  recognized  it,  and  thought  it  a  peculiar 
foreign  article,  or  whether  it  was  done  merely  to 
"save  face,"  on  which  so  much  store  is  set,  I  do 
not  know,  but  the  last  we  saw  of  that  man  he  was 
hugging  his  rind  like  a  treasure.  Before  we  had 
seen  the  last  of  his  horse,  however,  we  felt  that  if 
the  pumaloe  rind  had  constituted  the  whole  of 
the  purchase-price  we  still  should  have  been  the 
losers. 

It  is  surprising  how  closelv  the  people  in  one 
section  of  the  country  pattern  after  those  else- 
where, when  one  remembers  the  lack,  almost 
absolute  lack,  of  intercommunication.  But  in 
spite  of  the  general  sameness,  which  perhaps 
appears  greater  than  it  is  on  account  of  the  uni- 
formity in  physiognomy  of  the  people,  with  the 
Mongolian  coloring  and  jet-black  hair,  there  were 
many  peculiar  customs  which  appeared  to-  be 
localized,  as  man)-  of    them  were  found  only  in 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province     95 

small  districts,  and  travelled  Chinese  who  accom- 
panied me,  said  that  they  had  never  before  seen 
similar  things  elsewhere  in  the  empire.  Of  these 
the  most  singular  was  the  carrying  of  small  bam- 
boo baskets  lined  with  sheet  metal  and  tilled  with 


A  Peculiar  Custom  by  Chinese  Women  of  Wearing  Heat- 
ing-Baskets 

hot  wood-ashes.  Such  baskets  the  women  in  one 
locality  suspend  from  a  belt  beneath  their  short 
blouses.  Sometimes  the  baskets  are  worn  in 
front,  sometimes  behind,  and  occasionally  in  both 
places,  according-,  apparently,  to  the  fancy  of  the 
wearer.     Children  also  made  use  of  the  heating 


96  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


apparatus,  but  men  only  rarely.  No  matter  how 
worn,  the  effect  in  all  cases  was  both  extraordi- 
nary and  comical.  To  get  a  photograph  of  Chi- 
nese women  is  almost  as  difficult  as  to  photograph 
a  herd  of  wild  deer.  Women  are  supposed  to 
keep  away  from  any  man,  and  of  course  a  foreign 
man  is  specially  terrible.  The  picture  of  the 
women  and  their  baskets  was  obtained  by  cau- 
tious stalking  behind  some  Chinese,  while  their 
attention  was  attracted  by  one  of  the  members  of 
my  staff.  The  instant  after  the  shutter  dropped 
the  group  had  scattered. 

In  farming  methods  the  Chinaman  in  the  inte- 
rior is,  of  course,  centuries  behind.  His  grain  he 
is  accustomed  to  spread  on  the  ground  and  drive 
over  it  his  beast  of  burden,  the  water-buffalo, 
drawing  a  stone  roller,  in  order  to  thresh  it,  while 
in  some  places  I  saw  hay  ricks  built  around  trees 
as  a  centre  support.  Apparently  the  method  of 
constructing  them  was  to  begin  at  the  top  and 
work  down,  instead  of  up,  as  do  farmers  else- 
where. Farming  and  boating  are  the  Chinaman's 
great  occupations,  in  which  he  most  excels. 

The  horse  is  little  used  in  China,  as  has  been 
stated  before,  but  when  he  is  and  he  needs  shoe- 
ing, the  extensiveness  of  the  ceremony  makes  up 
for  any  deficiency  resulting  from  infrequent  oc- 
currence of  the  operation.  Two  straight  poles 
are  firmly  planted  in  the  ground,  with  a  cross- 
arm  at  the  top.     Suspended  from  the  latter,  and 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province     97 


fastened  head  and  tail  to  the  first  two,  the  horse 
is  finally  secured,  and  then  the  farrier  is  ready  to 
begin  his  work,  to  the  delight  of  an  audience 
usually  of  no  mean  dimensions. 

But  for  ingenuity  of  adapting  means  to  an  end, 
his  fishing  arrangements  excel  all  others.  Instead 
of  bothering  with  nets,  which  are  apt  to  break  and 
call  for  repairs,  or  with  hooks  and  lines,  which 
may  not  be  easy  to  procure,  the  fisherman  on 
most  of  the  rivers  in  the  interior  makes  use  of  cor- 
morants— large  black  birds  which  are  by  nature 
fish-hunters,  and  which  become  by  tuition  very 
docile.  He  will  start  out  on  his  piscatorial  quest 
in  a  small  boat,  with  from  six  to  a  dozen  of  his 
feathered  helpers,  to  whom  he  has  omitted  prob- 
ably to  give  a  breakfast.  Once  on  the  fishing- 
grounds,  the  birds  begin  to  dive  for  fish,  but 
which,  as  their  owner  had  tied  a  string  around 
each  neck,  they  cannot  swallow.  As  each  fish  is 
brought  to  the  surface,  the  boatman  relieves  the 
bird  of  its  prey,  and  thereupon,  according  to  the 
dictates  of  nature,  it  dives  again.  When  the  boat 
is  full  the  fisherman  removes  the  strings  about  the 
necks,  rewards  each  bird  with  a  fish,  and  returns 
home. 

The  southern  and  eastern  portions  of  the  prov- 
ince are  not  so  densely  populated  nor  so  well 
developed  as  the  central  part,  nor  as  the  great 
tea-producing  belt  in  the  north.  The  streams  are 
smaller,    giving   more   difficult    means    of    travel, 


98  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


while  the  broken  topography  renders  farming  less 
profitable.  These  are,  however,  the  mineral  dis- 
tricts, where  there  is  stored,  awaiting  develop- 
ment, incomputable  wealth. 

The  last  place  ol  importance  in  Iln-nan  is  Chen- 
chon,  a  prefecture  town,  with  its  fine  arched 
bridge  of  five  spans  crossing  the  Yu-tan  River, 
and  its  picturesque  old  gate-ways  with  carved 
wooden  lattices.  It  has  a  population  of  from  five 
thousand  to  eight  thousand,  and  is  evidently  still 
a  prosperous  place,  although  not  now  of  the  im- 
portance that  it  was  in  those  days  when  the  Che- 
ing  highway,  of  which  it  is  the  northern  gate- 
way, was  jammed  with  traffic. 

The  Nan-ling  range  is  one  of  the  great  off-shoots 
from  the  Central  Asian  table-land  and  extends  in 
a  sharply  marked  position  directly  across  the  em- 
pire from  West  to  East,  and  forms  the  southern 
boundary  of  the  Yang-tze  Valley.  On  the  oppo- 
site side  from  the  Yang-tze,  water  flows  south- 
ward into  the  North  and  West  Rivers  and  so  to 
the  China  Sea.  The  mountains  comprising  the 
range  are  lofty  and  bold.  There  are  three  passes 
crossing  it,  which  have  been  occupied  by  trade 
routes  between  North  and  South  China.  The 
most  westerly  of  the  three  is  the  lowest ;  in  fact 
so  low  that  a  canal  across  it  has  been  in  exist- 
ence for  many  years,  rendering  it  possible  to  go 
from  the  China  Sea  to  the  Yang-tze  by  boat. 
This  pass  is  in   Southwestern   Hu-nan,  but  on  ac- 


Chapter  III  :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province     99 


count  of  its  indirectness  and  the  shallow  state  of 
the  approaching  streams  is  little  used.  On  the 
east  is  the  Me-ling  I'ass,  at  the  head  of  the  Pei-Ho, 
and  leads  from  Kwang-tung  into  the  province  of 
Kiang-si.  It.  was  this  pass  that  Lord  Macartney 
crossed  with  his  embassy  in  1796.  The  central 
and  most  celebrated  of  the  passes  is  the  Che-ling, 
lying  on  a  line  almost  due  north  from  Canton. 

Between  the  heads  of  navigation  of  the  Wu- 
shui  River,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Nan-ling 
range  leading  to  Canton,  and  the  Vu-tan,  a  tribu- 
tary to  the  Yang-tze  on  the  north  side,  is  a  dis- 
tance of  but  thirty  miles,  so  that  commerce  be- 
tween Canton  and  any  point  in  the  Yang-tze  Val- 
lev  can  be  reached  by  boats,  with  this  single  and 
small  exception.  The  highway,  crossing  the 
mountains  by  the  Che-ling  Pass,  terminating  at 
I-chang  on  one  end  and  Chen-chou  on  the  other, 
has  therefore  been  the  great  trade  route  between 
North  and  South  China  for  certainly  three  thou- 
sand years,  and  perhaps  more — that  is,  during  the 
time  when  the  whole  of  history  has  been  written. 
It  stands  to-day  as  one  of  the  great  monuments  of 
China's  past,  compared  with  which  other  relics  of 
antiquity  seem  but  as  things  of  yesterday.  Many, 
many  years  ago  this  road  was  paved  for  a  width 
of  fifteen  feet  with  large  flat  stones,  ranging  in 
size  from  one  to  tour  feet  square.  Deep  in  these 
stones  there  are  hollows  worn  by  the  bare  feet, 
of  the  coolies  carrying  their  loads  like  beasts  of 


ioo         An  American  Engineer  in  China 


burden,  or  there  are  dug  actual  holes  where  the 
feel  of  the  ponies,  jogging  along  with  short  steps, 
have  struck.  It  was  lined  with  shops  and  with 
inns  serving  accommodations  on  a  cheap  scale  for 
coolies  and  teamsters,  and  on  an  elaborate  scale 
lor    mandarins  or    rich    Cantonese,  who,   if   they 


The  Descent  from  the  Che-ling  Pass  on  the  South  Side 

had  the  funds,  could  gratify  their  taste  with  any 
expensive  luxury.  But  the  opening  of  the  Yang- 
tze to  commerce  in  1861  seriously  damaged  the 
prestige  of  this  route,  for  with  goods  going  from 
or  to  Canton  it  was  found  more  economical  to 
ship  by  steam-vessel  between  there  and  Hankow, 
and  be  thence  distributed.  Since  then  its  impor- 
tance has  been  gradually  diminishing,  so  that  the 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province  101 

traffic  now  passing  to  and  fro,  although  still  consid- 
erable, is  but  a  small  fraction  ol  what,  it  once  was. 
The  rich  merchant  no  longer  frequents  it,  and  the 
elaborately  decorated  inn  erected  for  his  entertain- 
ment is  dropping  to  decay.  Shops  and  resting- 
places  for  the  coolies  or  pony-drivers  are  actually 
abandoned,  and  the  great  trade  route,  which  for 
so  many  centuries  has  resounded  with  the  almost 
continuous  patter  of  the  human  foot  or  the  clatter 
of  the  ponies'  hoofs,  is  now  becoming  more  and 
more  disused,  and  stands,  as  so  many  other  things 
in  this  country  stand,  an  eloquent  but  silent 
witness  of  the  past.  It  had  been  expected  that 
we  could  utilize  the  approximate  location  of  this 
highway  for  the  route  of  the  railway,  but  a  care- 
ful examination  revealed  the  fact  that  the  na- 
tives had  not  found  the  true  pass  at  all,  which  lav 
some  three  miles  to  the  eastward,  and  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  lower.  For  ten,  twenty, 
thirty,  or  some  other  number  of  centuries  the 
poor  coolies  have  been  carrying  their  loads,  quite 
unnecessarily,  up  and  down  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  of  elevation.  What  a  waste  of  human 
energy  ! 

Ten  miles  after  crossing  the  range  we  reached 
the  borders  of  Hu-nan,  and  passed  into  the  prov- 
ince of  Kwang-tung.  On  reaching  the  frontier- 
line,  which  crossed  our  path  where  it  ran  through 
a  little  village,  a  very  pretty  ceremony  was  per- 
formed.    Our  guard  was,  of  course,  composed  of 


An  American  Engineer  in  China 


Hu-nanese  soldiers,  but  as  we  were  about  to 
pass  into  the  viceroyalty  of  the  "Two  Kwang  " 
(Kwang-tung  and  Kwang-si),  they  had  reached 
the  limit  of  their  jurisdiction.  Our  Cantonese 
guard  was  on  hand  ready  to  receive  us,  and  in 
their  mushroom   hats  presented  quite  a  different 


Two  Faithful  Friends 


appearance  to  the  uniforms  we  had  been  accus- 
tomed to.  The  two  bodies  of  troops,  having 
saluted,  the  Hu-nanese  soldiers  passed  over  into 
Kwang-tung  and  lined  up  along  the  highway,  and 
in  like  manner  the  Cantonese  soldiers  formed  in 
Hu-nan.  The  Kwang-tung  captain  was  then  in- 
troduced.    The  Hu-nan  general  came  up,  "  chin- 


Chapter  III  :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province   103 


chinned  "  his  farewell,  and  then  shook  hands  like 
a  foreigner.  When  I  came  to  say  good-by  to  the 
two  Hu-nanese  soldiers  who  had  formed  my  par- 
ticular body-guard,  who  had  carried  1113-  camera 
or  mv  pack,  and  who  had  looked  after  my  little 
personal  wants  in  so  many  thoughtful  ways,  I  was 
indeed  sorry,  for  I  was  parting  from  two  faithful 
friends.  Then  with  one  last  look  at  Hu-nan,  the 
journey  across  which  I  had  regarded  with  so 
much  anxiety,  but  where,  with  two  exceptions,  I 
had  been  treated  with  uniform  kindness,  courtesy, 
and  attention  by  both  officials  and  people,  I  sig- 
nified my  readiness  to  proceed,  and  said  good-by 
to  Hu-nan  by  saluting  her  soldiers  as  I  walked 
past  their  front. 

Taking  Hu-nan,  the  closed  province  of  China, 
as  an  extreme  example,  for  there  foreigners  are 
practically  unknown,  nevertheless  the  general 
condition  of  life  along  the  Siang  River,  the  chief 
artery  of  travel  and  trade,  does  not  differ  materi- 
ally from  that  found  in  the  more  frequented  parts 
of  the  empire  ;  nor,  in  fact,  does  the  undercurrent 
of  human  affairs  flow  in  channels  radically  differ- 
ent from  those  in  other  countries.  There  is  the 
usual  struggle  for  success,  attended  with  the  or- 
dinary run  of  victory  or  failure;  men  rise  and 
men  go  down.  In  Chang-sha  there  is  the  regular 
excitement  always  surrounding  a  political  capital, 
while  in  lighter  ways  there  are  the  festivities  at- 
tending the  Chinese  New-Year's  celebration,  and 


io4  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


the  occasional  rendering  of  a  Chinese  play,  for 
the  Chinese  as  a  nation  take  great  interest  in  the 
drama.  There  are  newspapers,  and  the  telegraph, 
administered  entirely  by  Chinese,  puts  the  great 
cities  in  daily  touch  with  other  parts  of  the  em- 
pire. The  majority  of  the  people  have  probably 
heard  of  the  Japanese  War  of  1895,  and  the  greater 
part  of  these  understand  dimly  that  China  was 
defeated.  Travelling  merchants  come  from  other 
provinces,  and  the  river  boatmen  are  constantly 
going  to  and  from  Hankow,  or  perhaps  even  to 
so  distant  a  port  as  Shanghai,  so  that  the  people 
hear  accounts  of  the  doings  of  the  outer  world. 
If  foreigners  are  personally  unknown,  their  ap- 
pearance is  not ;  for  the  Chang-sha  belle  sees  on 
her  bottle  of  pomade  the  prevailing  fashion  in 
which  her  French  sister  does  her  hair,  while  the 
young  man  about  town  in  Siang-tan  finds  in  his 
package  of  American  cigarettes  a  photograph  of 
the  latest  favorite  of  the  London  music-hall. 

In  Hu-nan  there  are  two  distinct  classes,  those 
such  as  the  above,  who  can  enjoy  life,  and  who 
have  attained  a  position  easily  comparable  with 
the  best  of  conditions  to  be  found  anywhere,  and 
those  who,  living  in  the  more  remote  parts  of  the 
province,  never  come  in  contact  with  the  outer 
world.  As  soon  as  a  departure  is  made  from  the 
Siang  River,  such  a  difference  is  at  once  noticed, 
and  there  is  reached  along  the  eastern  side  of  the 
province,  where  there  is  practically  no  trade  and 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province   105 

consequently  no  communication  with  the  rest  of 
the  world,  a  condition  of  life  that  is  distressingly 
depressing.  Not  that  there  is  suffering-  or  want, 
for  every  bod  v  seems  to  have  a  home  and  enough 
to  wear  and  eat,  but  it  is  life  reduced  to  its  sim- 
plest form,  in  which  there  is  apparently  lacking 
every  desire  for  amelioration  or  even  a  knowl- 
edge or  comprehension  that  such  a  thing  is  pos- 
sible. Of  education  or  religion  or  any  aspiration 
toward  a  better  or  a  higher  life,  or  intercourse 
with  the  outer  world,  there  is  none.  The  soil 
produces  enough  food  and  an  occasional  surplus, 
which  is  sold  in  the  nearest  market-town,  and 
thus  serves  to  provide  clothing  and  the  other 
wants,  which  are  of  the  simplest  nature.  There 
seems  to  be  nothing  in  the  way  of  social  inter- 
course between  the  people,  and  life  is  merely  a 
struggle,  day  after  day,  for  a  bare  existence. 
From  one  year's  end  to  the  other  there  is  no 
pleasure,  no  enjoyment  beyond  the  mere  animal 
instinct  of  living,  and  without  a  single  event  to 
break  the  monotony.  And  yet,  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  this  is  not  a  savage  country,  but 
one  that  had  a  high  and  complex  civilization 
before  the  time  when  Rome  was,  and  this  civiliza- 
tion still  remains  among  these  people  in  the  way- 
off  corners,  probably  not  much  altered  except 
that,  it  may  have  become  sadly  worn. 

On  our  journey  eastward  from  the  Siang,  we 
made  a  short  detour  out  of   Hu-nan  into  the  ad- 


io6         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

joining  province  of  Kiang-si,  and  at  the  border 
line  of  the  province  came  across  an  amusing  spec- 
imen of  Chinese  reasoning,  and  a  suggestive  illus- 
tration of  the  attitude  of  the  I  lu-nanese  toward 
their  neighbors.  The  so-called  anti-foreign  feeling 
in  Hu-nan  is  a  misnomer;  it  is  really  Chinese  ex- 
clusiveness  carried  to  its  logical  conclusion,  giving 
rise  to  an  antipathy  against  all  who  do  not  live  in 
the  province,  and  to  whom  they  apply  the  epithet 
of"  foreigner"  without  discrimination.  The  peo- 
ple of  Kiang-si,  in  order  to  defend  themselves 
from  the  wicked  inhabitants  of  Hu-nan,  had 
erected,  at  the  frontier,  where  the  highway  en- 
tered their  province  through  a  narrow  valley,  a 
massive  masonry   wall   with   a   wide  rampart  and 


The  Wall    and    Gateway   on   the    Border   between    Hu-nan 
and  Kiang-si 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province   107 

embattled  parapet,  and  a  gate-way  with  watch- 
tower  complete  —  a  most  formidable- looking 
structure,  and  one  that   was  practically   impreg- 


A    Bridge    over    Dry    Ground,   with  a  Coolie   Climbing   the 
Approach  Steps  on  the  Left 

nable  by  direct  assault  by  archers.  Its  length, 
however,  was  only  about  1,500  feet,  merely  reach- 
ing from  hill  to  hill,  and  as  the  flanking  hills  were 
low  and  easy  of  ascent,  there  was  nothing  at  all 
to  prevent  an  invading  army  from  turning  from 
their  path  but  a  few  yards  to  either  the  right  or 
left  and  inarching  unmolested,  so  far  as  the  wall 
was  concerned,  around  its  ends.  That  the  con- 
structors evidently  considered  this  a  secure  de- 
fence, in  the  way  that  the  ostrich  buries  its  head, 
there  is  apparently  little  doubt,  but  I  could  not 
help  wondering  whether  the  Hu-nanese  had  been 
similarly  affected  and  so  deterred  from  mak- 
ing an  attack.     But  this  is  on  a  par  with  an  old 


io8         An  American  Engineer  in  China 


bridge  that  we  met  on  our  travels.  Once  upon  a 
time,  when  perhaps  Elizabeth  was  reigning  in 
England,  this  bridge  crossed  a  stream,  but  the 
stream,  unlike  the  natives,  was  capable  of  chang- 
ing its  course,  and  now  the  bridge  spans  dry 
land.  The  highway,  however,  still  continues  to 
cross  the  bridge,  and  the  coolies,  with  their  loads 
upon  their  backs,  still  climb  the  flight  of  steps  at 
either  end  as  their  predecessors  have  done  for 
centuries.  The  Chinaman  always  accepts  things 
as  they  are,  without  inquiry  or  reasoning— actu- 
ality and  precedent  being  to  him  always  para- 
mount. 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province  109 

Hu-nan  :   The  Exit 

Five  miles  from  the  borders  of  Hu-nan  we 
reached  Ping-shih,  a  flourishing-looking  town  of 
perhaps  three  thousand  people,  the  principal  rea- 
son of  its  existence  being  that  it  is  a  point  of  trans- 
ferrence  from  boat  transportation  on  the  Wu-shui 
to  land  portage.  The  whole  surface  of  this  part 
of  Kwang-tung,  however,  is  very  mountainous, 
and  the  population  is  quite  scant.  The  difference 
from  Hu-nan  conditions  was  quite  noticeable. 
While  foreigners  rarely  visited  Ping-shih,  they 
were  not  entirely  unknown,  and  therefore  we 
were  not  quite  the  same  object  of  intense  curi- 
osity. 

The  most  striking  thing  of  all  was  the  pawn- 
shops. These  singular  buildings,  which  are  a 
particularly  Kwang-tung  institution — although 
the  pawnshop  is  known  evervwhere  in  China — 
are  built  of  masonrv,  in  huge  square  towers,  sixty 
to  eighty  feet  on  a  side,  and  with  a  height  of  one 
hundred  feet  or  more,  presenting  a  most  impos- 
ing appearance,  suggestive  rather  of  an  ancient 
feudal  castle,  with  the  comparatively  tiny  houses 
huddling  about  the  base,  than  of  anything  so  es- 
sentially practical  and  commercial  as  a  pawnshop. 
The  construction  and  shape  of  the  building  are 
for  protective  purposes.  The  material  of  which 
it  is  composed  presents  a  safeguard  against  fire, 
while  its  solidity,  its  great  height,  and  fewness  of 


Chapter  III  :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province  in 

windows  or  other  openings  offer  the  greatest 
obstacle  to  successful  assault  by  robbers.  Within 
arc  numerous  floors,  on  which  the  pawned  goods 
are  carefully  stored  after  being  neatly  indexed. 
The  ordinary  practice  of  the  pawnbroker  in  the 
way  of  high  interest  charges  is  the  same  here  as 
in  other  lands,  but  the  calling  is  regarded  quite 
differently;  in  fact,  the  pawnshop  is  looked  upon 
as  a  blessing,  the  broker  as  a  benefactor,  and  the 
presence  of  a  high  tower  the  indication  of  good 
business.  If  a  town  possesses  more  than  one,  it 
is  taken  as  a  sign  that  it  is  particularly  prosper- 
ous, and  places  are  described  as  being  one,  two, 
three  pawnshop  towns,  as  the  case  may  be.  The 
pawnshop  partakes  of  the  nature  of  a  bank,  the 
Chinese  arguing  that,  no  one  would  borrow  un- 
less he  can  employ  the  capital  with  profit,  and 
as  the  pawnshops  are  the  means  of  furnishing 
capital,  therefore  the  greater  the  number  the 
greater  the  prosperity.  As  the  Cantonese  have 
always  been  the  most  progressive  and  energetic 
merchants  of  China,  so  the  pawn  or  banking  sys- 
tem of  this  province  has  become  more  highly 
developed  than  elsewhere. 

At  Ping-shih  the  expedition  was  again  divided, 
the  chief  engineer  preceding  by  boat  to  make  a 
reconnoissance  of  the  river  and  of  the  route  fol- 
lowing the  stream  via  Sam-shui  and  Fat-shan 
while  the  survey  party  went  overland,  although 
sleeping  on  boats  to  within  lift)-  miles  of  Canton, 


ti2  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


where  they  left  the  river  and  struck  directly  for 
the  city. 

Kwang-tung  is  drained  by  three  principal 
streams,  of  which  one  is  the  Tung  Kiang,  which 
flows  to  Canton  from  the  east,  and  with  which 
our  expedition  has  nothing  to  do.  The  others 
are  the  Si  Kiang  (West  River)  and  the  Pei  Ho 
(North  River),  with  their  respective  tributaries. 
These  latter  rivers  join  at  Sam-shui  (literally 
"Three  Waters"),  twenty-five  miles  clue  west  of 
Canton,  the  combined  streams  going  to  form  the 
Canton  River  and  the  net-work  of  channels  and 
small  streams  that  intersect  the  flat  land  that  ex- 
tends to  the  sea.  The  West  River  is  the  most 
important,  draining  not  only  the  western  portion 
of  Kwang-tung,  but  the  whole  of  the  province  of 
Kwang-si,  and  is  open  for  steam  navigation,  even 
at  low  stage,  for  shallow-draught  vessels  for  some 
considerable  distance,  and,  on  account  of  the 
facility  of  navigation,  has  become  an  important 
trade  route,  with  a  treaty  port  of  its  own  at  Wu- 
chow.  The  North  River,  as  its  name  would  indi- 
cate, strikes  north  to  Shao-chou,  where  it  forks — 
the  right-hand  branch,  carrying  the  name  of  Pei 
Ho,  draining  the  Nan-ling  Mountains  on  the  south 
side  from  the  province  of  Kiang-si,  while  the  left- 
hand  branch  called  the  Wu-shui,  drains  the  slope 
of  the  same  range  on  the  south  side  from  Hu-nan. 
During  the  winter  months  the  river  is  very  shal- 
low, shoals  with  not  over  one  foot  of  water  being 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province  113 

of  frequent  occurrence  to  within  a  short  distance 
of  Sam-shui  ;  and  even  while  following  the  tor- 
tuous and  continually  shifting  channel,  a  vessel 
drawing  two  feet  cannot  proceed  up  the  river 
from  the  junction  more  than  fifty  miles.  The 
Wu-shui  is  very  shallow — especially  the  upper 
waters — for  the  first  fifty  miles  below  Ping-shih. 
We  were  therefore  compelled  to  take  the  smallest 
boats  we  had  yet  used.  These  little  boats  have  a 
water-line  length  of  about  twenty-five  feet,  but  on 
account  of  their  peculiar  overhanging  ends,  in 
order  that  they  may  be  run  up  to  the  bank  on  a 
flat  shore,  are  apparently  very  much  longer. 
They  are  about  five  feet  beam,  are  flat-bottomed, 
and  are  built  in  the  lightest  manner  possible,  the 
composing  boards  being  only  about  three-quarters 
of  an  inch  thick,  without  braces  or  frames,  while, 
in  order  to  give  some  stiffness,  the  sides  at  the  top 
are  curved  inwards  amidships,  and  are  held  apart 
by  thwarts  at  the  fore  and  aft  quarters.  The  roof- 
ing protection  consisted  of  hemispherical  bamboo 
mats  on  light  bamboo  frames.  The  boats,  when 
loaded,  drew  about  three  or  four  inches  only,  and 
furnished  accommodations  for  two  of  our  party 
to  each  one.  It  was  not  long  after  leaving  Ping- 
shih  before  the  reason  for  the  design  was  appar- 
ent. During  at  least  half  of  the  year,  the  river  is 
very  low,  and  is  nothing  but  a  succession  of  quiet 
pools  separated  by  swiftly  running  rapids,  some 
of  the  latter  being  of  no  small  force.     In  order  to 


ii4         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

navigate  the  worst  places  a  large  oar  would  be 
rigged  on  the  bow,  with  which  the  boat  was 
steered  as  well  as  with  one  at  the  stern.  On  ap- 
proaching a  rapid  the  crew  would  cease  rowing 
and  unship  the  oars  while  the  two  helmsmen,  one 
in  front  and  one  behind,  would  prepare  for  their 
task.  As  the  light  boat  feels  the  increasing  cur- 
rent she  begins  to  increase  her  speed.  In  front 
are  two  great  masses  of  rocks,  and  between  them 
a  narrow  passage  of  white  foaming  water — a  ver- 
itable Scylla  and  Charybdis,  with  apparent  equal 
certainty  of  destruction  whether  we  hit  the  rocks 
or  miss  them,  for  surely  no  vessel  as  light  as  ours 
could  possibly  stand  the  strain  with  safety.  On  we 
shoot,  straight  for  the  rocks,  when,  just  as  a  col- 
lision seems  absolutely  certain,  down  goes  the  bow 
oar,  the  boatman  throws  his  weight  against  the 
inboard  end,  our  boat's  head  swerves,  and  with  a 
lurch  she  swings  and  clears  the  first  danger  by  not 
over  six  inches,  but  only  to  get  into  the  seething 
mass  of  foam.  Surely  now  our  frail  craft  must  go 
to  pieces;  instinctively  one  looks  at  the  face  of  the 
skipper,  who,  with  stolid  indifference,  the  charac- 
teristic of  his  race,  betrays  no  sign  that  anything 
unusual  is  happening,  but  whose  bright  eye  is  fixed 
steadfastly  ahead,  and  the  keenness  of  the  glance 
indicates  that  behind  that  eye,  in  spite  of  outward 
appearances,  is  a  brain  that  is  alert.  The  boat 
twists,  she  yields,  her  very  bottom  is  seen  to  bulge 
upwards  as  it  actually  slides  over  the  rocks,  which 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province  115 

are  worn  smooth  by  similar  contact  with  many  a 
sampan,  then  with  a  final  leap  she  reaches  the 
still  surface  of  the  pool  ahead.  It  is  only  the 
lightness  of  construction  and  the  lack  of  stiffness 
that  makes  the  journey  possible.  A  boat  with  a 
frame  and  braces  would  have  been  wrecked 
at  once.  In  these  runs  no  orders  are  given, 
there  is  no  excitement,  no  shouting,  but  every 
man  of  the  crew  of  four  knows  exactly  what  he 
has  to  do  and  does  it.  These  Chinese  river-boat- 
men make  hne  sailors.  Before  reaching  the  larg- 
est of  the  rapids,  which  is  really  a  succession  of 
several,  our  boats  were  beached  and  the  combined 
crews  went  ashore  to  a  little  temple  to  do  "  Joss 
pigeon  "  to  the  river-god.  From  the  fact  that  we 
passed  the  danger  in  entire  safety,  one  feels  com- 
pelled to  assume  that  his  godship  was  pleased 
with  the  fire-crackers  and  brown  paper  burned  in 
his  honor.  As  the  crackers  are  sold  by  the  priest 
in  charge,  and  as  a  large  number  of  them  were  set 
off,  it  would  appear  that  the  business  of  being  a 
river-god  is  not  without  its  financial  attractions. 

From  Ping-shih  to  Lo-chang,  the  first  town  seen 
for  a  distance  of  nearly  forty  miles,  there  is  one 
continuous  canon,  furnishing  the  most  beautiful 
scenery  found  anywhere  along  our  march,  and, 
for  beauty  and  grandeur  combined,  is  the  equal 
of  any  river-canon  that  I  have  ever  seen.  The 
stream  varies  in  width  from  one  hundred  to  five 
hundred   feet.      The  hills,  having  a  height  of  six 


n6         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

hundred  to  one  thousand  feet,  run  directly  to  the 
water  without  any  beach  or  level  shore.  The 
country  is  absolutely  wild,  there  being  no  popu- 
lation and  no  cultivation.  Unfortunately,  too, 
there  are  no  trees  except  in  a  few  places,  the 
mountains  haying  been  long  since  stripped  of 
their  timber.  It  is  possible,  perhaps  probable, 
that  examination  with  a  diamond  drill  will  show 
that  these  hills  are  underlain  with  coal,  as  coal 
outcrops  at  Lo-chang,  and  again  in  the  vicinity 
of  Shao-chou.  The)-  are  covered  with  a  rich, 
strong  grass,  and  are  capable  of  supporting  great 
herds  of  sheep  or  cattle. 

At  Lo-chang,  a  place  of  perhaps  four  thousand 
people,  situated  at  the  mouth  of  the  gorge,  wre  ex- 
changed our  little  boats  for  a  regular  junk.  The 
whole  atmosphere  of  our  surroundings  was  quite 
different  from  what  we  had  been  accustomed  to. 
There  are  seen  growing  the  banyan-tree,  and 
other  tropical  vegetation.  Women  are  working 
with  men,  especially  in  boats,  and  but  few  of  them 
have  the  terrible  self-inflicted  deformity  of  pinched 
feet.  The  houses  are  of  a  type  differing  from 
that  in  the  more  northern  provinces,  and  in  the 
windows  and  from  the  balconies  are  seen  growing 
green  plants  and  flowers.  Neither  in  Hu-peh  nor 
Hu-nan  had  we  seen  a  single  evidence  of  an  appre- 
ciation by  the  lower  classes  of  natural  beauty,  and 
we  had  begun  to  consider  the  title  of  "  Flowery 
Kingdom  "  as  sadly  misplaced.     From  Lo-chang 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province  117 

onward  we  saw,  in  an  increasing  ratio,  a  desire 
on  the  part  of  the  people  to  improve  the  attrac- 
tiveness of  their  environment. 

In  point  of  time  we  were  now  approaching  the 
Chinese  New-Year,  the  greatest  day,  or  rather 
period,  in  the  whole  calendar,  for  the  attendant 
festivities  are  of  a  continuous  character  for  three 
days,  during  which  all  business,  even  in  the  com- 
mercial centres,  is  absolutely  stopped,  while  the 
effect  extends  over  about  two  weeks  before  nor- 
mal conditions  are  again  resumed.  The  Chinese 
year  is  lunar,  the  beginning  being  marked  by  the 
first  new  moon  following  the  passage  of  the  sun 
into  the  constellation  of  Aquarius,  imposing  lim- 
its of  January  21st  as  the  earliest  date  and  Febru- 
ary 19th  as  the  latest.  In  1899  it  fell  on  February 
10th.  On  all  sides  were  evidences  of  the  approach 
of  the  fete.  If  no  house-cleaning  is  done  at  other 
times,  and  usually  that  is  the  case,  it  is  ordained 
by  precedent  that  everything  must  be  washed  at 
this  season.  Along  the  river-banks  were  seen 
women  with  their  trousers  rolled  up  to  their 
thighs,  standing  in  the  water  alongside  of  their 
household  furniture,  giving  their  chairs,  tables, 
and  clothes-presses  a  good  bath.  Boatmen  were 
pasting  to  the  sides  of  their  boats  colored  slips  of 
paper  with  "  good  luck  "  mottoes  or  prayers,  while 
the  shops  in  the  little  villages  were  evidently  do- 
ing a  thriving  business. 

Forty  miles  from  Lo-chang  brought  us  to  Shao- 


n8         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

chou,  a  walled  city  with  seven  to  eight  thousand 
people,  the  official  residence  of  a  taotai,  a  pre- 
fect, and  a  magistrate,  the  most  important  city 
in  northern  Kwang-tung.  We  arrived  there  on 
New-Year's  eve.  As  foreigners  were  known  here 
—some  foreign  missionaries  being  actually  in  res- 
idence— a  walk  ashore  without  a  guard  was  pos- 
sible, a  luxury  not  enjoyed  since  leaving  Hankow. 
Seasonable  decorations  were  everywhere  in 
plenty;  the  shops  were  loaded  with  fire-crackers, 
toys,  house  decorations  (usually  of  red  paper), 
and  articles  suitable  for  presents — for  the  latter 
are  exchanged  at  this  season  of  the  year  between 
all  friends.  At  one  time  there  would  be  seen  a 
gentleman  bringing  to  his  home  a  chicken  and 
other  delicacies,  preparation  for  the  coming  feast 
next  day,  and  before  which,  having  deposited  them 
on  his  door-step,  he  would  prostrate  himself  with 
all  due  ceremony.  At  another  time  we  met  a 
business  man  hurrying  along  with  a  preoccupied 
air.  evidently  finding  difficulty  in  raising  the  funds 
to  pay  off  his  debts,  which  must  be  liquidated,  in 
accordance  with  the  Chinese  law,  before  night- 
fall. The  evening  was  quiet,  but  exactly  at  mid- 
night the  New-Year  was  ushered  in  with  a  deaf- 
ening peal  of  fire-crackers  from  every  junk  and 
from  every  house,  for  no  Chinaman  is  so  poor  as 
not  to  be  able  to  afford  his  salute,  accompanied 
by  a  general  din  of  gongs,  bells,  and  rattles. 
On  February  15th  we  passed  out  of   Fat-shan 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province  119 

Creek  at  Fati,  and  Canton  lay  before  us,  and  the 
first  American  Industrial  Invasion  of  China  by  an 
organized  force  was  at  an  end. 

Ten  days  later  the  balance  of  the  party,  which 
had  necessarily  made  slower  progress,  arrived, 
and  in  spite  of  mournful  prognostications  to  the 
contrary,  the  journey  was  finished,  and  with 
much  better  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  natives 
than  would  a  similar  expedition  of  Chinese  re- 
ceive during  a  trip  of  equal  length  under  similar 
conditions  in  the  United  States,  or  even  possibly 
in  Europe,  due  in  great  measure  to  the  care  taken 
of  us  by  their  Excellencies  Sheng  and  Viceroy 
Chang  Chih-tung,  to  both  of  whom  in  this  and  in 
many  other  ways  I  am  much  indebted. 

Our  ears  were  frequently  assailed  with  shouts 
from  the  crowds  of  "  Yang-kwei-tze,"  "foreign 
devil,"  or  some  similar  epithet,  but  in  nearly 
every  case  I  am  sure  that  such  expressions  usu- 
ally meant  little  more  than  such  terms  as  "John 
Chinaman"  or  "Yankee"  do  with  us,  because 
frequently  I  heard  the  shout  of  foreign  devil 
raised  by  someone  calling  a  crowd  from  within 
houses  to  the  street  to  see  the  strange  sight,  and 
such  people,  when  thus  summoned,  would  return 
our  bows  with  pleasant  smiles  or  laughter.  Some- 
times sullen  looks  were  seen,  but  rarely  was  any- 
thing thrown  or  deliberate  discourtesy  shown, 
and  only  once  was  any  violence  attempted.  This 
single  case  occurred  in  southern  Hu-nan,  when  we 


i2o         An  American  Engineer  in  China 


had  begun  to  consider  that  no  special  precautions 
were  necessary,  even  among  the  famed  turbulent 
Hu-nanese,  so  that  I  did  not  hesitate  to  detach 
myself  from  the  party  without  a  regular  escort. 
One  day  1  was  thus  passing  the  little  market 
town  of  Wu-ni-pu  ("  rive  mud  shops")  where  the 
weekly  market  had  drawn  from  the  surround- 
ing country  a  crowd  of  perhaps  two  thousand. 
My  attendants  were  but  three  unarmed  soldiers 
and  ni)-  chair  bearers.  On  learning  of  my  com- 
ing the  crowd  came  out  of  the  town  and  lined  up 
along  the  roadside.  A  boy  in  jest  started  the  cry 
of  foreign  devil,  those  near  him  took  it  up  in  sim- 
ilar vein  with  laughter.  Others  in  rear,  not  seeing 
but  hearing,  also  raised  it,  while  those  well  at  the 
back,  hearing  the  noise,  pushed  forward  to  ascer- 
tain the  cause.  The  pushing  and  the  shouting 
excited  someone  to  throw  a  missile,  whereupon 
a  quiet  crowd  unconsciously  and  quite  uninten- 
tionally was  converted  into  a  mob.  Fortunately 
they  had  nothing  worse  to  throw  than  earth-clods 
from  the  ploughed  fields,  but  which  having  started 
to  do,  they  kept  it  up  with  energy  and  zeal.  My 
little  guard  stood  bv  me  and  urged  me  to  run,  as 
resistance  against  such  odds  was  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. To  run  I  realized  would  encourage  vio- 
lence and  invite  stumbling,  which  would  be  fatal, 
as  likewise  a  proposition  to  take  refuge  in  a  little 
temple  at  hand.  The  only  chance  lay  in  giving  a 
certain  orderly  portion  in  the  crowd  time  to  get 


Chapter  III  :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province  121 

the  disturbance  under  control,  and  in  the  mean- 
while to  protect  my  head  with  the  collar  of  my 
coat  and  to  hope  that  the  crowd  would  not  find 
any  stones  or  bricks.  After  a  somewhat  mauvais 
quart  d ' Jicurc  order  supplanted  violence,  and  I  was 
none  the  worse  except  for  some  dirty  clothes  and 
a  stiff  neck,  which  two  days'  time  quite  cured. 
After  that,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  local  officials, 
we  went  armed. 

I  asked  the  Chinese  dignitaries  why  we  had 
failed  to  experience  the  troubles  that  they  had  all 
feared  so  keenly  before  starting.  The  answers 
were  threefold  :  we  had  shown  no  fear,  and  con- 
sequently the  people  feared  us;  we  neither  mo- 
lested nor  interfered  with  anyone,  therefore  the 
people  respected  us  ;  and  we  paid  regular  prices 
for  our  purchases,  and  would  not  permit  our 
attendants  to  steal,  therefore  the  people  liked 
us.  There  seemed  to  me  to  be  another  reason, 
the  good-will  of  the  officials.  I  am  confident  that 
the  Government  can,  when  it  wants  to  do  so,  con- 
trol the  people,  and  is  quite  competent  to  bring 
about  any  desired  reform.  The  trouble  is  that 
the  existing  clique  realizes  that  with  railways 
and  other  innovations  its  powers  are  at  an  end. 
One  practical  result  of  our  trip  is  that  mission- 
aries have  since  penetrated  without  trouble  into 
Hu-nan,  a  thing  impossible  before,  and  the  prov- 
ince can  now  be  considered  as  open  as  the  other 
seventeen. 


Mr.  Parsons  Mr.   Rich 

Chinese  Skipper 


Under  Two  Flags 


Chapter  III  :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province  123 

Wherever  we  went  we  had  the  pleasure  and  hon- 
or of  carrying  with  us  the  American  flag-,  the  first 
foreign  flag  to  be  seen  in  this  portion  of  China, 
and  alongside  of  it,  in  compliment  to  the  country 
we  were  visiting,  we  flew  the  Imperial  Dragon. 

The  scientific  results  were  entirely  satisfactory. 
In  addition  to  determining  the  general  location 
of  the  railway,  we  established  the  longitude  and 
latitude  of  the  various  cities,  discovering,  as  was 
to  be  expected,  differences  in  their  locations  as 
usually  platted.  We  noted  the  magnetic  varia- 
tion of  the  needle,  locating  the  line  of  no  variation 
where  it  crossed  our  path  ;  we  established  the 
lines  of  drainage,  both  north  and  south  of  the 
Nan-ling  Mountains,  correcting  many  errors;  but, 
above  all,  we  discovered  the  true  pass  across  the 
range  connecting  the  head-waters  of  the  Yu-tan 
with  those  of  the  Wu-shui,  to  which  the  staff  gave 
the  name  of  "  Parsons  Gap,"  and  so  marked  it  on 
our  map. 

In  this  work  our  difficulty  lay  principally  in 
procuring  reliable  information  in  advance.  The 
average  Chinese,  and  certainly  everyone  in  the 
interior,  does  not  comprehend  at  all  the  meaning 
of  the  word  accuracy — all  his  statements  are 
"about."  The  unit  of  distance  in  China  is  a  li, 
a  distance  which  is  approximately  1,825  leet,  or 
something  more  than  one-third  of  a  mile;  but  the 
li  (pronounced  lee)  differs  in  different  parts  of  the 
empire,  just  as  the  tael  or  standard  of  value  differs, 


124         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

so  that  for  ordinary  usage  the  expression  "  li "  is 
of  little  value,  while  for  accurate  computations  it 

is  worse  than  worthless,  for  it  is  misleading  unless 
all  the  circumstances  are  known.  Thus  there  are 
official  li  along  certain  highways  specially  devoted 
to  travel,  which  are  termed  "official  highways." 
On  these  coolies  are  paid  for  carrying  merchandise 
at  so  much  per  li,  and  by  common  consent  under 
these  circumstances  all  distances  are  reckoned 
short,  the  ratio  of  the  error  between  stations  not 
being  constant,  and  varying  from  twenty  to  as  high 
as  fifty  per  cent.  Thus  a  distance  which  would  ac- 
tually measure,  say,  20  li  would  be  set  somewhere 
between  24  and  30  li.  On  a  parallel  highway  of 
equal  length  the  true  distance,  or  something  ap- 
proximating it,  would  be  stated  ;  hence  we  were 
always  in  a  perpetual  quandary  and  argument 
with  the  officials  as  to  which  would  be  the  shortest 
route  to  follow  when  there  was  a  choice.  Then, 
to  add  to  the  complexity,  in  certain  districts  the 
distance  is  reckoned  not  wholly  on  the  basis  of 
length,  but  partly  on  the  time  required.  Thus  if 
the  road  from  A  to  B  is  up  hill,  the  distance  from 
A  to  B  might  be  40  li,  but  from  B  to  A  only  30. 
Distances  are  also  stated  in  multiples  of  10  above 
20,  and  in  multiples  of  5  between  5  and  20,  and 
below  5  in  single  li — a  custom  arising  from  the 
fact  that  the  surface  is  considered  as  divided  into 
zones,  the  distance  between  the  centres  of  the 
zones  being  so  many  tens  of  li.     If  the  points  in 


Chapter  III :  Hu-nan,  the  Closed  Province  125 

question  are  on  the  nearest  limits  of  the  zones,  the 
distance  given  on  the  zone  basis  is  too  great  by 
10  li,  or,  if  on  the  outer  limit,  too  little  by  a  like 
amount.  All  such  distances  are  subject  to  fur- 
ther correction  as  to  whether  they  are  official  or 
otherwise,  and  by  the  several  other  local  condi- 
tions or  even  personal  equations  of  the  informant. 
If  there  were  any  rule  in  these  vagaries  it  would 
not  matter  so  much,  but  there  is  absolutely  none. 
Of  maps  we  were  fortunate  in  securing  one  of 
Hu-nan,  which,  considering  it  was  a  native  pro- 
duction, was  very  good,  and  as  a  general  thing 
fairly  reliable,  although  once  in  a  while  its  woful 
errors  ran  us  into  difficulties.  The  local  maps 
purporting  to  give  details  were  caricatures,  and 
outdid  the  productions  of  Herodotus  and  other 
early  European  geographers.  One  particular 
map,  which  undertook  to  represent  not  the  unex- 
plored country,  but  an  area  of  civilization,  includ- 
ing the  viceregal  capital  of  Wu-chang  and  the 
metropolis  of  Han-kow,  can  be  taken  as  a  fair 
specimen  of  the  lot.  At  this  point  the  Yang-tze 
River  runs  almost  straight.  Had  the  local  car- 
tographer so  shown  it  on  his  map,  one  of  two 
things  would  have  happened  :  either  he  would 
have  been  obliged  to  use  a  larger  sheet  of  paper 
or  the  river  would  have  run  off  the  border.  He 
very  successfullv  and  ingeniously  avoided  both 
difficulties  by  giving  the  river  a  graceful  bend. 
The    rest   of    his    topography    and    details    were 


126         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

shown  with  equal  fidelity.  Yet  the  officials  treat 
these  things  quite  seriously,  and  in  my  own  ex- 
perience frequently  such  maps  as  these  would  be 
produced  and  actually  used  as  a  basis  of  argu- 
ment. 

In  China  there  is  no  fixed  nomenclature — even 
the  country  itself  being  without  a  name — and  this 
lack  of  distinct  and  recognized  appellations  was  a 
frequent  source  of  difficult)'.  Of  personal  infor- 
mation from  natives  there  was  none  obtainable  on 
which  any  credence  could  be  placed.  A  Chinese, 
unless  he  be  a  porter  coolie  or  a  boatman,  rarely 
travels  or  gets  during  his  life  more  than  a  few 
miles  in  any  direction  from  the  place  where  he 
was  born.  When  trying  to  procure  information 
concerning  the  immediate  locality  it  was  no  un- 
common thing  to  have  a  native,  and  even  some- 
times men  of  local  position,  say,  "  Oh,  I  have 
never  been  so  far  away  as  that,"  or  "  I  have  never 
been  across  that  hill,  and  so  do  not  know  what  is 
be  von d." 


Chapter 

IV 

My    Chinese    Impressions 

IT  is  related  in  the  analects  of  Confucius  that 
one  of  his  disciples  put  to  him  the  question  : 
"  Is  there  one  word  upon  which  the  whole  life 
may  proceed?"  to  which  the  Master  replied:  "  Is 
not  Reciprocity  such  a  word?"  If  it  were  pos- 
sible to  find  a  word  expressive  of  that  curiously 
subtle  thing,  the  Chinese  character,  perhaps  Con- 
tradiction would  furnish  the  keynote. 

There  is  probably  no  nation  so  extolled  and 
lauded  by  some  writers,  and  so  inveighed  against 
and  execrated  by  others,  as  the  Chinese,  and  this, 
too,  by  observers  who  have  lived  in  China  for 
many  years.  This  great  divergence  of  opinion  is 
due,  1  believe,  to  the  spirit  of  contradiction  in  the 
Chinaman  himself. 

This  spirit  of  contradiction  is  found  not  only  in 
the  frequently  occurring  examples  of  the  Chinese 
way  of  doing  things  quite  differently  from  the 
way  that  other  people  have  found  best,  but  more 
particularly  in  the  cases  where  the  Chinaman  is 
so  singularly  inconsistent  with  his  own  apparent 
way  of  thinking  and  of  the  rules  which  lie  has 
laid  down  for  his  own  guidance.  Me  seems  to  be 
at  the  same  time  the  extreme  of  economical  and 
wasteful,  practical  and  impractical,  kind  and  cruel, 
honest  and  deceitful.    No  sooner  has  the  observer 

127 


128 


An  American  Engineer  in  China 


discovered  and  put  in  mental  order  a  series  of  in- 
cidents that  seem  to  establish  a  certain  trait,  when 


Chinese  and  Manchu  Ladies  of  the  Upper  Class 

The  two  on  the  ends  are  Chinese,  with  their  feet  compressed.  The 
third  from  the  left  is  a  Manchu,  with  the  feet  natural  but  wearing 
the  peculiar  Manchu  shoe  on  a  central  pedestal.  The  second 
woman  is  a  maid-servant,  with  her  feet  only  partly  compressed,  as 
is  usual  with  women  of  her  class.  On  the  right  is  a  Peking  cart, 
the  private  carriage  of  Minister  Conger.  This  picture  was  obtained 
by  having  Mrs.  Parsons  walk  ahead  to  attract  the  attention  of  the 
ladies  to  her  foreign  clothes 

of  a  sudden  he  comes  in  contact  with  some  new 
fact  or  action,  which  completely  upsets  all  pre- 
conceived notions. 

The  well-known  ways  in  which  the  Mongolian 
methods  and  reasoning  contradict  the  Caucasian 
are  both  amusing  and  extraordinary  in  their  com- 


Chapter  IV:   My  Chinese  Impressions     129 


plete  and  direct  oppositeness.  With  the  Chinese 
white  is  the  color  of  mourning,  and  the  left,  is  the 
place  of  honor.  Men  wear  skirts  and  women  wear 
breeches,  while  everyone  is  addressed  with  the 
family  name  first.  The  Chinaman  talks  of  the 
magnetic  needle  pointing  to  the  south — singular 
reasoning  for  one  living  in  the  Northern  Hemi- 
sphere— reads  and  writes  from  right  to  left,  and 
thus  it  goes  through  almost  every  detail  of  every- 
day life.  But  the  most  amusing  instance  is  the 
practice  of  the  night-watchman,  who  flourishes 
everywhere  from  Peking  down  to  the  small  cities 
in  the  interior.  Instead  of  going  his  rounds 
stealthily,  to  better  detect  thieves,  which  are  not 
few,  he  equips  himself  with  a  bamboo  rattle  and  a 
tinkling  metal  cymbal,  which  he  sounds  rhythmi- 
cally as  he  walks  his  beat.  In  the  still  hours  of 
the  night  it  is  perfectly  easy  to  tell  exactly  where 
he  is,  and  when  he  will  pass  in  return  a  given 
point.  The  theory  is  that  his  fiendish  weapons  of 
noise  strike  terror  into  the  hearts  of  all  evil-doers, 
but  I  fear,  judging  from  personal  experiences, 
that  the  ways  of  evil-doers,  contrary  to  the  rule 
of  Chinese  opposite,  are  the  same  in  all  lands. 

Self-contradiction  is  equally  apparent,  and  must 
be  continually  expected  and  allowed  for  if  we 
are  to  attempt  to  understand  the  Celestial  and  his 
way  of  thinking.  Even  his  Government  is  a  most 
bewildering  mixture  of  the  most  absolute  autoc- 
racy and  liberal  democracy. 


130         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

The  autocratic  part  is  represented  not  so  much 
in  the  will  of  one  man,  the  ruler,  for  the  system  of 
government  lias  tended  more  and  more  to  seclude 
him  from  popular  contact,  but  in  the  almost  slav- 
ish observance  and  veneration  for  precedent. 
What  is,  is;  and  what  has  been  done  stands  as  an 
example  for  all  time  or  until  some  extraordinary 
event  establishes  a  new  order.  The  personality 
of  the  ruler  and  of  the  leading  statesmen,  there- 
fore, is  not  stamped  upon  the  course  of  affairs,  nor 
are  the  official  personages  of  the  same  relative  im- 
portance that  they  are  in  other  countries.  Gov- 
ernment is  largely  a  matter  of  custom  and  of 
precedent. 

No  dictator,  no  tyrant  ever  ruled  with  more 
iron  hand  than  does  Precedent  in  China,  and  the 
custom  of  obeying  it  is  deep-seated  and  hoary 
with  age.  Even  before  the  time  of  Confucius  it 
was  the  ride,  and  his  writings  teem  with  admo- 
nitions to  observe  the  Rules  of  Proprieties  and 
Ceremonial. 

The  democratic  side  is  shown  by  the  fact  that, 
with  but  few  exceptions,  rank  is  not  hereditary, 
and  that  the  meanest  of  the  Emperor's  subjects 
may  not  only  aspire  to  but  actually  attain  the 
highest  place  in  his  councils.  Examinations  form 
the  basis  of  political  preferment,  and  these  exam- 
inations are  open  to  all.  But  by  one  of  those 
strange  inconsistencies  of  contradiction  which 
make  the  oldest  of  students  of  Chinese  character 


Chapter  IV:   My  Chinese  Impressions     131 

timid  as  to  exact  determinations,  the  Chinese, 
having  elaborated  the  most  perfect  system  of 
selection,  lose  sight  entirely  of  the  main  object, 
and  so  conduct  ihe  examinations  as  to  render 
them  practically  valueless  in  really  determining 
the  contestant's  fitness  for  anything  except  writ- 
ing involved  essays  on  a  text  from  Confucius.  I 
met  some  Chinese  of  the  official  class,  who  were 
endowed  by  nature  with  strong  talents  that  would 
have  insured  their  rise  under  any  circumstances 
and  had  already  won  the  highest  of  examination 
honors,  who  told  me  that  they  were  endeavoring 
to  forget  their  Confucius  as  fast  as  possible  and 
trying  to  learn  other  things. 

In  judging  the  Chinaman,  allowance  must  be 
made  for  the  point  of  view.  He  must  not  be 
looked  at  entirely  from  his  stand-point ;  if  so,  he 
has  no  faults;  nor  wholly  from  ours;  for  if  so,  he 
has  no  redeeming  features.  Take,  for  example, 
his  standard  of  veracity.  All  Asiatics  have  the 
reputation  of  being  cunning,  deceitful,  and  un- 
truthful, and  in  ordinary  dealings  the  Chinaman 
is  said  to  be  no  exception.  On  the  other  hand, 
in  commercial  intercourse  he  has  the  reputation 
of  being  so  truthful  and  honest  that  foreign  mer- 
chants frequently  rely  on  verbal  contracts  and  to 
an  extent  that  they  would  not  do  with  each  other. 
It  is  quite  impossible  that  the  same  man  can  be  so 
wholly  different.  The  contradiction  must  be  more 
apparent  than   real.      What  is  his   point   of  view? 


132         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

In  ordinary  transactions  he  is  accustomed  to 
speak  in  exaggerated  phrases,  to  veil  his  meaning 
in  obscure  sentences,  and  to  convey  his  thoughts 
in  an  optimistic  way;  such  has  been  his  whole 
education.  He  himself  understands  his  fellows, 
or,  at  least,  does  so  after  much  circumlocutory 
questioning.  There  has  been  no  attempt  to  de- 
ceive, and,  therefore,  he  would  say  no  lie. 

This  is  not  the  direct  bluntness  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  ;  it  may  not  be  the  best  way,  but  it  is  the 
Chinese  way,  based  on  an  experience  of  some 
thousands  of  years,  and  he  is  at  least  entitled  to 
have  his  point  of  view  taken  into  account.  When 
it  comes  to  practical  considerations,  like  making 
a  contract,  he  has  learned  that  only  the  direct 
method  and  rigid  honesty  are  successful,  and 
therefore  he  governs  himself  accordingly  and 
perhaps  more  conscientiously  than  other  people 
with  a  so-called  higher  civilization. 

In  thinking  of  the  Chinaman  we  frequently 
make  the  error  of  vastly  underrating  his  men- 
tal ability,  and  regarding  his  stolidity  and  tenacity 
to  his  own  ways  as  precluding  him  from  grasp- 
ing another's  point  of  view.  But  even  from  my 
short  experience  I  am  convinced  that  such  is  far 
from  being  the  case.  The  Chinaman  naturally 
prefers  his  own  way  of  accomplishing  a  given 
end,  but  that  does  not  prevent  him  from  seeing 
the  line  of  thought  and  action  of  a  mind  trained 
in  methods  diametrically  opposite  from  his.     On 


Chapter  IV  :   My  Chinese  Impressions     133 


one  occasion,  when  the  regular  nightly  council  of 
local  officials  was  being  held  to  arrange  for  the 
next  day's  march  of  the  expedition,  I  stated 
my  plans,  a  suggestion  which  immediately  met, 
as  was  not  infrequently  the  case,  with  their  very 
strong  opposition  and  elicited  a  counter  sugges- 
tion that  I  must  follow  a  highway  in  quite  a  dif- 
ferent direction,  for  so  the  Governor  had  ordered. 
The  officials  were  firmly  but  politely  informed 
that  the  Governor  was  not  the  chief  engineer,  and 
therefore  not  responsible  for  the  survey.  When 
they  realized  that  I  was  set  upon  my  own  course 
they  adopted  the  usual  Chinese  custom  of  indi- 
rectness, and  began  to  assure  me  that  it  was 
impossible  for  me  to  go  the  way  I  proposed,  as 
there  were  high  mountains  and  deep  rivers  in- 
tervening which  were  quite  impassable.  Accord- 
ing to  Chinese  custom  I  should  have  accepted 
such  circumlocution,  although  they  not  only  knew 
it  was  untrue,  but  knew  that  I  knew  that  it  was 
untrue,  because  they  were  well  aware  that  I  had 
made  a  personal  reconnaissance  in  advance  to  de- 
velop the  feasibility  of  the  route  proposed.  At 
this  juncture  one  of  the  officials,  who  at  the  outset 
had  behaved  in  exactly  the  same  way  by  raising 
all  sorts  of  absurd  objections  and  then  in  the  end 
doing  without  difficulty  what  he  had  previously 
insisted  was  impossible,  leaned  across  the  table 
and  said  in  an  undertone  to  his  coadjutors: 
"  Don't    talk  to   that  man   about   mountains   and 


134         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

rivers;  he  is  not  influenced  by  such  phrases. 
When  \  on  talk  to  him  you  must  talk  to  the 
point."  Two  weeks'  intercourse  had  sufficed  to 
make    him     understand     direct,    straightforward 

methods.  One  of  these  officials  who  that  night 
had  been  chief  in  resistance  accompanied  us  for 
four  hundred  miles,  and  developed  into  one  of  the 
very  best  men  we  had,  dropping  his  indirect  ways 
and  talking  "  to  the  point." 

The  most  striking  trait  in  the  Chinese  character, 
and  which  is  chiefly  answerable  for  the  present 
condition  of  the  country,  is  exclusiveness.  As  a 
nation  they  have  produced  great  things,  but  they 
have  been  for  their  own  use  and  not  for  exchange 
with  other  peoples  for  other  ideas.  This  exclu- 
siveness has  operated  not  only  to  shut  China  in 
from  other  nations,  but  has  prevented  that  flow  of 
thought  from  within  outward  and  from  without 
inward,  a  reciprocal  action  which  is  as  necessarv 
for  the  development  of  a  nation  as  is  variation  in 
physical  and  mental  exercises  for  the  development 
of  an  individual.  The  teachings  of  nature  show 
that  a  stationary  condition  is  impossible,  that  mo- 
tion forward  or  backward  is  always  taking  place, 
and  as  approach  toward  perfection  is  attained  a 
new  condition  of  life  is  brought  about  under  a 
course  of  development.  So  life  leads  to  death,  and 
death  is  but  a  birth  for  a  new  life.  This  law  is 
true  for  nations  as  well  as  for  animals  and  plants. 
Every  great  nation  of  the  past  has  expanded  until 


Chapter  IV:   My  Chinese  Impressions     135 

its  limit  of  growth  is  reached,  when  it  enters  a  pe- 
riod of  decadence  and  finally  comes  to  a  natural 
death,  giving  rise,  however,  to  new  nations  and 
new  peoples.  Here  again  China  seems  to  be  an 
anomalous  contradiction.  It  is  a  nation  which 
died  centuries  ago,  but  which  has  never  been 
buried,  and  continues  to  remain  above  ground  as 
a  sort  of  vivified  mummy.  Everywhere  in  the 
interior  where  one  turns,  one  is  struck  with  this 
deadness  and  arrest  of  development,  as  it  were, 
that  occurred  some  centuries  ago.  Every  writer 
on  China  regards  the  peculiar  natural  condition 
from  his  own  point  of  view,  and  suggests  as  the 
cause  the  lack  of  his  particular  nostrum.  The 
missionary  argues  that  it  is  necessary  to  instil  in 
the  Chinese  a  high  moral  sense,  and  then  all 
would  be  well  ;  the  writer  on  material  develop- 
ment calls  for  unlimited  railways  ;  the  military 
man  for  the  reformation  of  the  army  and  navy  as 
the  panacea  ;  while  the  commercial  man  claims 
that  if  enough  treaty  ports  were  opened  China 
would  soon  take  care  of  herself.  Any  one  of 
these  or  other  similar  views  is  too  narrow.  A 
deficiency  in  moral  sense,  and  the  failure  to  ap- 
preciate the  benefit  of  railways  or  unrestricted 
commerce,  are  effects,  rather  than  causes,  or  cer- 
tainly are  not  the  prime  causes.  The  nation  is 
dead  ;  a  new  birth,  a  regeneration,  a  new  life  is 
needed  ;  and  while  each  one  of  the  urged  reforms 
is  necessary  as  one  of  the  conditions  to  bring  into 


136  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


existence  this  new  life,  no  one  by  itself  is  suffi- 
cient. To  produce  plant,  life  it  is  not  only  neces- 
sary to  have  the  seed  ready  to  germinate,  but  there 
must  also  be  the  required  conditions  of  light,  heat, 
and  moisture  —  no  one  in  itself  is  enough,  and 
without  the  proper  combination  of  all  three  our 
seed  will  refuse  to  bring  forth.  Such  is  the  con- 
dition of  China. 

This  lack  of  life  is  evident  everywhere  and  is 
interwoven  in  the  whole  fabric  of  Chinese  exist- 
ence. Take  the  writings  of  Confucius,  on  which 
all  Chinese  thought  and  reasoning  is  both  con- 
sciously and  unconsciously  based,  and  it  will  be 
seen  that  even  his  key-note  is  dead.  The  tone  is 
moral,  the  code  of  ethics  is  high,  but  his  philoso- 
phy is  lifeless,  for  he  speaks  of  himself  as  "  I,  a 
transmitter  and  not  an  originator,  and  as  one  who 
believes  in  and  loves  the  ancients."  This  doctrine 
he  has  taught  successive  generations,  so  that  the 
Chinaman  is  too  apt  to  regard  the  future  as 
merely  an  opportunity  to  relive  the  past.  But 
this  can  be  overcome. 

Seeds  for  a  new  life,  better  and  stronger  than 
the  past  life,  even  when  China  was  the  greatest 
nation  in  existence,  are  there  ready  to  sprout ;  the 
potentiality  is  great ;  the  people  are  by  nature 
peaceful,  law-abiding,  industrious,  frugal,  hard- 
working, and  patient — qualities  absolutely  essen- 
tial to  produce  a  great  nation,  and  which  under 
proper  conditions  must  produce  one,  in  the  same 


Chapter  IV:   My  Chinese  Impressions     137 


way  that  a  healthy  acorn  under  the  proper  condi- 
tions must  give  growth  to  a  sturdy  oak. 

In  examining  the  characteristics  of  a  people  one 
turns  first  to  the  status  of  education  and  to  the  nat- 
ure and  depth  of  religious  belief,  and  in  both  of 
these  this  deadness  is  oppressively  conspicuous. 
One  day,  while  journeying  along  a  highway  in 
Hu-nan,  I  turned  to  a  bright  little  boy  of  apparently 
about  ten  years  who  was  in  the  crowd  surround- 
ing me,  and  asked  him  if  he  went  to  school.  "  Oh, 
yes,"  he  replied,  and  in  answer  to  a  question  what 
he  studied,  said,  with  a  look  that  clearly  indicated 
his  surprise  that  anyone  should  ask  such  a  ques- 
tion, "  Why,  the  classics,  of  course."  Not  a  word 
about  geography  or  history,  even  of  his  own  conn- 
try,  to  say  nothing  of  others;  not  a  line  of  science; 
not  a  single  thought  of  anything  that  could  do  him 
a  bit  of  good  or  fit  him  to  be  a  useful  member  of 
society,  but  merely  the  teachings  of  Confucius, 
who  lived  twenty-five  hundred  years  ago.  An  il- 
lustration of  what  this  leads  to  was  well  shown 
one  night  when  the  local  officials  of  the  village 
where  we  were  stopping  called,  according  to  cus- 
tom, to  greet  us  and  arrange  for  future  progress. 
One  of  them,  a  dear  old  gentleman,  who  had  a 
laugh  that  would  have  made  his  fortune  on  the 
stage  in  any  capital  of  Europe,  inquired  what  land 
I  came  from,  if  it  was  far  from  China,  and  then 
whether  I  came  by  land  or  by  sea,  each  question 
being  punctuated  by  a  delicious  laugh.     To  tell 


138  An  American  Engineer  in  China 

him,  who  considered  one  hundred  miles  as  a  long 
journey,  thai  1  had  conic  over  ten  thousand  miles, 
was  to  give  the  impression  ol  a  gross  exaggeration, 
as  he  had  no  idea  of  the  size  of  the  earth  or  where 
America  was,  as  indicated  by  thequestion  whether 
it  was  north  or  south  of  China.  One  of  his  com- 
panions, rinding  that  his  friend  was  quite  at  sea, 
finally  summoned  up  courage  and  rebuked  the 
questioner  by  pointing  out  that  America  was  in 
the  Western,  and  China  in  the  Eastern,  Hemi- 
sphere. After  other  inquiries  the  hist  man 
brightened  up  and  said,  "Oh,  I  know  now  where 
your  land  is  ;  it  is  between  France  and  Germany  :  " 
whereupon  the  second,  who  had  been  carefully 
watching  our  faces  and  so  perceived  that  the 
other  was  wrong  again,  repeated  his  hemisphere 
remark  with  a  most  supercilious  and  superior  air. 
As  he  ventured  nothing  more  there  was  little 
doubt  that  that  comprised  his  whole  knowledge 
of  the  world's  geography,  although  he  had  not 
shown  whether  he  really  knew  what  a  hemisphere 
was.  Vet  these  two  men  held  important  govern- 
ment positions,  and  one  of  them  has  since  been 
promoted  and  is  on  the  high  road  to  still  greater 
places  of  trust,  and  such  men  the  people  must 
look  to  and  rely  on  for  their  guidance.  But  this 
state  of  affairs  must  not  be  confounded  with  ig- 
norance. These  men  were  ignorant  in  the  sense 
of  being  uneducated  according  to  our  standards. 
From  a    Chinese    point   of  view  they  were  very 


Chapter  IV:   My  Chinese  Impressions     139 


highly  educated,  and  had  spent  an  amount  of 
time  in  acquiring  their  information  thai  would 
suffice  with  us  to  lake  a  man  through  a  leading 
university  and  give  him  a  Ph. I),  degree.  They 
had  a  vast  amount  of  learning,  hut  it  was  of  no 
practical  value.     It  was  the  teachings  of  the  filth 


GHhr  m 

4>  j 

Iwi  f  * 

A  Neglected  Buddhist  Temple 

The  roof-beams  are  elaborately  and  beautifully  carved 

century  before  Christ  rather  than  the  nineteenth 
century  after. 

Then,  as  to  their  religion:  nominally  they 
possess  the  Buddhist  faith;  practically  the  only 
religion  they  have  is  ancestral  worship.  Their 
Buddhist  temples,  as  a  general  thing,  are  neg- 
lected, the  idols  dirty  and  broken,  and  even  sub- 


140  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


ject  to  sale  by  the  priests  if  the  traveller  wishes 
to  carry  them  away,  and  nowhere  seemingly 
treated  with  any  veneration  or  respect,  except 
possibly  by  the  boatmen,  who  have  a  sort  of  su- 
perstitions fetich,  as  is  common  to  the  sailor  class 
in  all  lands.  Their  ancestors  they  venerate,  and 
every  Chinese  consequently  wishes  to  have  a  son 
who  will  worship  at  his  grave  as  he  has  done  tow- 
ard his  predecessors.  In  going  across  the  coun- 
try one  sees  occasionally  a  handsome  grave,  on 
which  a  certain  amount  of  care  and  thought  had 
been  bestowed  at  the  time  of  its  construction, 
and  possibly  since  ;  but  when  one  contemplates 
the  usual  resting-place  of  departed  Celestials,  lit- 
tle hummocks  of  pyramidal  shape,  unmarked  by 
any  inscription,  untended  and  unkempt,  on  one 
hand  scattered  about  in  more  or  less  disorder,  or 
on  another  hand  huddled  together,  one  is  easily 
forced  to  conclude  that  ancestral  worship  cannot 
have  any  deep-rooted  sentiment,  and  that  it  is, 
like  the  system  of  government,  a  matter  of  prec- 
edent, or,  as  the  native  picturesquely  puts  it  in 
his  pigeon  English,  "That  b'long  ole  custom." 

At  Shanghai,  Canton,  and  even  in  the  interior, 
there  are  to  be  met  large  buildings,  frequently  of 
elaborate  and  beautiful  design,  called  ancestral 
temples,  where  the  records  of  past  members  of  a 
great  family  are  kept  and  the  honors  that  indi- 
viduals have  won  for  the  house  are  properly 
posted.     Here  the  various  branches  of  the  family 


o 


142  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


can  meet  and  worship  before  the  little  tablets 
bearing  the  names  oi  their  lathers  and  grand- 
fathers. But  such  buildings  have  a  purpose  other 
than  a  purely  religious  one.  They  provide  a  place 
where,  at  stated  times,  the  scattered  members  of 
the  clan  can  come  together  and  see  each  other. 
They  have,  therefore,  a  social,  or  rather  a  tribal, 
function  as  well  as  a  religious  one. 

Reference  was  made  above  to  the  trait  of  ex- 
clusiveness  in  the  Chinese  character.  No  great 
principle  ever  stops  abruptly  in  its  effects,  so  this 
spirit  of  exclusiveness  not  only  limits  the  external 
bearings  of  the  empire,  but  affects  the  internal  re- 
lations of  the  people  as  well.  Carried  out  to  the 
logical  conclusion  it  has  made  the  family  the  su- 
preme unit.  To  his  family,  not  merely  his  wife 
and  children,  but  his  family  collectively,  to  the 
tribal  or  community  relation,  as  it  were,  the  Chi- 
naman owes  his  first  allegiance  ;  after  that  to  the 
district ;  then  to  the  state  or  province  ;  and  finally 
to  the  nation.  In  consequence,  any  real  national 
feeling  or  pride,  or  any  sense  of  genuine  patriot- 
ism, or  in  fact  of  any  patriotism  whatever,  is  ab- 
solutely wanting.  The  nation  as  a  whole  is  a 
great  mass  without  cohesion,  and  inviting  the 
comparison,  which  is  so  frequently  made,  to  a 
huge  jelly-fish.  When  the  war  between  China 
and  Japan  broke  out,  the  men  in  the  interior,  pro- 
vided they  were  cognizant,  which  many  were  not, 
that  a  struggle  was  going  on,  declared  it  to  be 


Chapter  IV  :   My  Chinese  Impressions     143 

that  "  Peking  man's  [Li  Hung-chang]  war,"  that 
he  had  got  into  it,  therefore  let  him  get  out  of 
it,  entirely  oblivious  of  the  fact  that  they  them- 
selves constituted  China,  and  that  no  matter  who 
was  the  author  or  what  the  cause,  war  was  on, 
and  war  with  China  meant  not  war  with  Li  Hung- 
chang,  but.  war  with  them.  In  the  same  way  they 
have  tolerated,  with  scarcely  a  protest,  the  giving 
away  of  their  national  territory.  The  man  from 
the  interior  cares  not  a  whit  whether  Germany 
occupies  Shan-tung,  or  whether  Russia  has  seized 
the  Liao-tung  peninsula  — "  that  is  the  'pigeon' 
[i.e.,  business]  of  the  Shan-tung  man."  On  a  jour- 
ney of  some  thirteen  hundred  miles  between  points 
of  civilization  which  our  expedition  in  its  various 
parts  collectively  covered,  with  the  single  excep- 
tion of  a  tug  belonging  to  the  China  Merchant 
Steamship  Company  which,  according  to  the  cus- 
tom of  that  company,  carried  the  Chinese  flag,  and 
which  we  happened  by  chance  to  meet  on  the 
Siang  River,  we  saw  not  a  single  Chinese  national 
emblem,  except  the  one  that  I  flew  on  my  own 
junk  alongside  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  From 
no  official  yamen,  from  no  city  wall  or  military 
camp,  was  it  once  displayed.  No  river  gun-boat 
threw  it  to  the  breeze,  nor  did  any  body  of  troops 
carry  it  at  their  head.  Flags  everywhere  were  in 
profusion,  and  in  great  profusion  <>t  colors  and  de- 
sign, but  they  were  always  of  a  local  or  personal 
character.     Every  gun-boat  carried  at  least  two 


Chapter  IV:   My  Chinese  Impressions     145 

beautiful  red  ones  with  huge  white  hieroglyphics 
— the  name  of  the  commander.  The  regimenl  or 
guard  that  marched  with  us  bore  standards  on 
which  was  inscribed  the  designation  of  their  cap- 
tain. The  Hag  ol  China  was  everywhere  absent. 
There  was  but  one  man  in  that  long  journey 
found  to  do  it  honor,  and  that  man  was  a  "  for- 
eign devil."  Undoubtedly  there  were  thousands 
who  saw  for  the  first;  time  the  flag  with  the  yel- 
low field  and  the  blue  dragon,  which  they  sup- 
posed to  be  the  fanciful  and  decorative  creation 
of  the  foreigner's  mind. 

The  personal  bearing  of  the  upper-class  China- 
man, even  in  the  interior  where  he  never  comes 
in  contact  with  the  outer  world,  is  kindly,  courte- 
ous, and  polite,  and  quite  up  to  what  is  found  in 
similar  classes  in  other  countries,  to  which  we  ap- 
ply the  term  "civilized."  On  my  inland  journey, 
when  approaching  a  town  or  city,  1  was  invaria- 
bly met,  at  some  distance  outside  the  walls,  by  a 
subofficial  representing  the  chief  magistrate,  who 
handed  me  the  latter* s  card  and  bade  me  welcome. 
A  Chinese  card  is  a  piece  of  thin  red  paper,  about 
six  inches  long  and  three  wide,  with  the  name 
printed  in  bold,  black  characters.  There  are 
fashions  in  cards  in  China  as  in  Europe.  Some 
high  officials  affect  huge  cards  as  indicative  of 
rank.  Other  persons,  when  leaving  cards  on  per- 
sons of  position,  use  characters  of  microscopic 
size  as  suggesting  great  inferiority  on  the  part  of 


I  46 


An  American  Engineer  in  China 


the  caller,  a  very  pretty  compliment,  but  one 
whose  sincerity,  like  other  compliments,  is  open 
to  question.  Mourning  is  indicated  by  a  small 
character  in  an  upper  corner.  On  reaching  my 
quarters,  usually  a  temple,  the  local  officials  im- 
mediately called,  those  of  junior  rank  merely 
leaving  their  cards   without    troubling    me,   and 


General  Liu  Kao-chao  at  Tiffin 

those  of  higher  rank  sending  in  their  cards  and 
waiting  for  an  interview  if  1  desired  one.  The 
etiquette  of  leaving  cards  and  immediately  re- 
turning calls  is  more  rigorous  than  with  us.  On 
first  meeting  with  an  official,  conversation  was 
naturally  formal  and  stilted,  but  on  subsequent  oc- 
casions small-talk  would  flow  as  easilv  as  the  limi. 
tations  of  interpreting  both  ways  would  permit. 


Chapter  IV:   My  Chinese  Impressions    147 

In  some  cases,  where  acquaintance  was  developed 
by  being  fellow-travellers,  we  found  among  those 
people  precisely  the  same  spirit  of  companionship 
that  existed  among  ourselves.  External  appear- 
ances and  differences  in  environment  do  not  affect 
human  nature.  General  Liu  Kao-chao,  military 
commandant  of  Chang-sha,  who  journeyed  with  us 
for  three  hundred  miles,  by  his  genial  and  whole- 
souled  character  caused  us  to  part  with  him  with 
deep  regrets,  and  his  evidently  unfeigned  delight 
in  his  midday  tipple  of  Scotch  whiskey  at  tiffin 
will  always  remain  a  bright  spot  in  a  very  inter- 
esting journey. 


Chapter 


Commerce  and  Commercial  Relations 

THE  foreign  commerce  of  China  is  carried 
on  through  and  at  twenty-nine  Treaty  Ports. 
Previous  to  1840  trade  with  foreigners  was 
much  hampered  owing  to  its  being  subject  to  local 
regulations,  all  of  which  were  annoying,  many  of 
them  ridiculous,  and  some  actually  jeopardizing 
to  both  life  and  property.  In  1842  Great  Britain, 
availing  herself  of  the  successful  outcome  of  what 
is  known  as  the  Opium  War,  stipulated  that  as 
one  of  the  indemnities,  China  should  declare  the 
ports  of  Canton,  Amoy,  Fu-chow,  Ning-po,  and 
Shanghai  to  be  thrown  entirely  open  to  British 
trade  and  residence,  and  that  commerce  with  Brit- 
ish subjects  should  be  conducted  at  these  ports 
under  a  properly  regulated  tariff  and  free  from 
special  Chinese  restrictions.  Although  Great 
Britain  nominally  secured  for  herself  special  con- 
siderations, she  intended  and  actually  accom- 
plished the  establishing  of  commerce  between 
China  and  all  other  nations  on  a  sound  and  liberal 
basis.  The  treaty  of  Nan-king  was  immediately 
followed  by  similar  treaties  with  other  powers, 
that  with  the  United  States  being  executed  in 
1844.  Additional  ports,  decreed  by  treaties  or 
other  arrangements  by  the  Chinese  Government, 
have  been  added  from  year  to  year.     At  the  end 

148 


Chapter  V:   Commercial  Relations       149 

of  the  year  1899  the  Maritime  Customs  reported 
twenty-nine  of  these  ports  with  several  branch  or 
sub-ports  in  addition.  At  nearly  all  ol  them  there 
is  a  special  reservation,  called  the  foreign  conces- 
sion, where  foreigners  are  allowed  to  reside  and 
regulate  their  method  of  living  in  their  own  way. 
Although  foreigners  are  permitted  to  dwell  in  the 
Chinese  quarter  if  they  so  desire,  the  right  to  hold 
property  in  the  concessions  is  usually  denied  to 
Chinese,  and  they  are  discriminated  against  in 
other  ways. 

Previous  to  i860  the  management  of  foreign 
commerce  had  been  in  the  hands  of  Chinese  offi- 
cials, with  the  usually  unsatisfactory  result  attend- 
ing any  official  department  handled  by  native  over- 
seers. In  that  year  the  business  of  the  port  of 
Shanghai  was  placed  temporarily  in  the  hands  of 
English,  American,  and  French  Commissioners, 
who  were  able  to  so  improve  the  receipts  by  effi- 
cient and  honest  management  that  the  Chinese 
Government,  recognizing  the  desirability  of  con- 
tinuing foreign  supervision,  organized  the  Im- 
perial Maritime  Customs  and  placed  the  manage- 
ment of  the  whole  foreign  trade  in  the  hands  of  a 
single  Commissioner,  called  an  Inspector-General. 
It  appointed  to  this  position  Mr.  Lav,  succeeded 
in  1863  bv  Mr.,  afterward  Sir,  Robert  Hart,  who 
has  continued  in  the  control  since  then,  and  to 
whom  is  due  the  present  very  satisfactory  con- 
dition   of    the    management    of    this    Bureau,    to 


150  An  American  Engineer  in  China 

which  has  since  been  attached,  in  order  to  secure 
efficiency,  a  Marine  Department,  covering  light- 
houses and  harbor  regulations  and  the  Chinese 
Imperial  Post-office. 

The  ports  open  in  1899  were  :  Niu-chwang,  Tien- 
tsin, Che-ioo,  Chung-king,  I-chang,  Sha-si,  Yo- 
chow,  Hankow,  Kiu-kiang,  Wu-hu,  Nan-king, 
Chin-kiang,  Shanghai,  Soo-chow,  Ning-po,  Hang- 
chow,  Wen-chow,  San-tuao,  Foo-chow,  Amoy, 
Swa-tow,  Wu-chow,  Sam-shui,  Canton,  Kiung- 
chow,  Pack-hoi,  Lung-chow,  Meng-tsz,  and  Sz- 
mao.  Of  these  Niu-chwang  is  located  in  the  north, 
at  the  terminus  of  the  Chinese  Imperial  Railway, 
and  is  the  gateway  through  which  the  trade  passes 
from  China  to  Russian  Manchuria.  Two  ports, 
Tien-tsin  and  Che-foo,  are  situated  on  the  Gulf  of 
Pe-chi-li,  while  the  next  eleven  on  the  list,  Chung- 
king to  Soo-chow,  are  on  the  Yang-tze  Kiang  or 
its  tributaries.  Seven  ports,  Ning-po  to  Swa-tow, 
are  on  the  East  Coast.  Wu-chow  and  Sam-shui 
are  on  the  West  River.  Canton  is  the  great  port 
of  Southern  China  and  the  oldest  seat  of  foreign 
trade  in  the  country.  Kiung-chow  is  on  the  Isl- 
and of  Hainan,  and  Pak-hoi,  Lung-chow,  Meng-tsz, 
and  Sz-mao  are  on  the  Franco-China  frontier  of 
Tong-king.  The  last  three  and  Niu-chwang  are 
the  only  places  not  situated  on  important  water- 
ways. Of  the  total  foreign  trade  about  three- 
quarters  is  transacted  through  Canton,  Shanghai, 
Tientsin,  and  Hankow,  which  are  the  great  dis- 


Chapter  V:    Commercial  Relations       151 


tributing  points  for  the  south,  middle  coast,  north, 
and  interior. 

The  importance  of  Canton,  Shanghai,  Tien- 
tsin, and  Hankow,  is  fixed  by  geographical  condi- 
tions. Canton  is  at  the  head  of  the  Canton  River, 
which  is  really  the  estuary  for  the  combined  flow 
of  the  West,  the  North,  and  the  East  Rivers,  the 
three  principal  streams  and  consequent  trade 
routes  of  Southern  China.  With  its  fine  harbor 
and  juxtaposition  to  Hongkong,  it  is,  of  necessity, 
and  must  always  continue  to  be,  the  gateway  to 
the  southern  part  of  the  Empire.  In  like  manner, 
Shanghai,  at  the  month  of  the  Yang-tze,  is  the 
controlling  point  for  the  whole  of  the  central 
zone;  while  Tien-tsin,  the  port  of  Peking,  is  the 
entrance  to  the  north,  the  northwest,  and  Mon- 
golia. Hankow  is  at  the  head  of  steamship  navi- 
gation on  the  Yang-tze,  and  at  the  junction  of  thai 
stream  and  its  principal  tributary,  the  Han,  and  if 
the  extreme  western  part  of  the  country  be  omit- 
ted, which  part  is  mountainous  and  very  thinly 
populated,  Hankow  is  approximately  the  geo- 
graphical centre  of  the  Empire. 

Natiye  vessels  trading  between  native  ports 
report  at  custom-houses  administered  bv  native 
officials,  where  the  records  are  hopelessly  con- 
fused, and  which,  as  a  source  of  income  to  the 
Chinese  Government,  will  be  referred  to  in  a  later 
chapter. 

The  foreign  commerce  of  China,  both  import 


bD    tjj 


*j     c    o 


a 

n! 
3 


c 

IX 

c 


Chapter  V:   Commercial  Relations       153 

and  export,  is  growing  steadily,  having  doubled 
since  1891,  the  figures  for  1899  showing  that  for- 
eign goods  to  the  value  of  264,748,456  Haikwan 
taels  ($185,324,000)  were  imported,  and  native 
goods  to  the  value  of  195,784,332  Haikwan  taels 
($137,049,000)  were  exported,  or  a  total  commerce 
of  460,533,288  Haikwan  taels. 

Owing  to  the  lack  of  internal  communication, 
the  distribution  of  Chinese  commerce  is  singu- 
larly restricted.  Of  the  imports  more  than  one- 
half  is  confined  to  two  classes  of  articles  alone  ; 
thus  cotton  and  cotton  goods  in  1899  accounted 
for  40.2  per  cent.,  and  opium,  unfortunately,  for 
13.5  per  cent.  In  like  manner  the  exports,  silk 
and  tea,  stand  out  almost  without  competition 
with  other  articles  ;  these  two  together  also  ag- 
gregating more  than  50  per  cent,  of  the  total. 
Silk  provided  no  less  than  41.8  per  cent,  and  tea 
16.3  per  cent.  Kerosene  oil,  metals,  rice,  sugar, 
and  coal  are  other  articles  largely  imported,  and 
beans,  hides  and  furs,  mats  and  matting,  and  wool 
other  exports. 

Although  the  extent  of  the  traffic  entered  at 
native  custom-houses,  or,  at  least,  not  passing 
through  the  Maritime  Customs,  cannot  be  ascer- 
tained, that  it  is  considerable  is  well  understood, 
as  can  be  shown  by  the  single  item  of  the  export 
of  rice.  The  exportation  of  this  article  was  in 
1898  prohibited  in  order  to  prevent  a  possible 
shortage  at  home.    The  Maritime  Customs,  there- 


154         An  American  Engineer  in  China 


fore,  report  no  rice  as  having  been  shipped  out- 
ward during  that  year.  The  Japanese  Customs, 
however,  report  having  received  rice  from  China 
to  the  value  of  $2,000,000  United  States  gold.  It 
had  been  smuggled  out  in  native  vessels  through 
the  native  customs  and  the  Government  deprived 
of  revenue.  An  amusing  explanation  of  this  is 
given,  which  so  thoroughly  illustrates  Chinese 
methods  as  to  be  worth  repeating.  As  rice  forms 
the  greatest  single  item  in  Chinese  food,  any  fall- 
ing off  in  supply  threatens  a  famine,  the  one  thing 
the  Government  most  dreads.  Such  being  the 
case  in  1898,  stringent  orders  were  sent  to  the 
Customs  Tao-tai  in  Shanghai  to  prohibit  an)-  ex- 
port of  the  grain,  the  greatest  source  of  supply 
for  which  being  the  Yang-tze  Valley,  Shanghai 
is  the  natural  point  of  shipment.  On  account  of 
the  power  attached  to  it,  and  the  opportunities 
offered,  the  position  of  Shanghai  Tao-tai  is  one 
specially  sought  after,  and  it  is  generally  believed 
that  the  price  paid  for  a  three-year  appointment, 
in  the  way  of  "presents"  to  the  Palace  officials, 
is  about  200,000  taels.  Since  the  authorized 
emoluments  are  about  20,000  taels  per  annum,  out 
of  which  expenses  exceeding  that  amount  must  be 
paid,  it  is  evident  that  great  financial  skill  must 
be  displayed  by  the  official  in  order  to  make  both 
ends  meet.  On  receipt  of  the  restraining  order, 
the  Tao-tai,  under  the  advice  of  the  syndicate  who 
were  "financing"  him,  held  the  order  for  some 


Chapter  V:   Commercial  Relations        155 

days,  during  which  time  the  energetic  syndicate 
members  bought  all  the  rice  in  sight,  put  it  in 
vessels,  and  rushed  it  abroad  to  Japan,  a  country 
which  buys  the  inferior  grade  of  Chinese  rice  for 
home  consumption  and  ships  abroad  its  own  su- 
perior article.  As  soon  as  the  embargo  was  pub- 
lished, the  value  of  rice  afloat  at  once  rose  and  the 
Tao-tai  syndicate  cleared  a  handsome  profit.  This 
illustrates  Chinese  fiscal  methods,  and  warrants 
the  statement  that  the  actual  foreign  commerce 
of  the  country  is  greater  than  the  figures  indicate. 

China  levies  on  its  foreign  commerce  a  tariff  for 
revenue  only.  The  rate  charged  on  nearly  all 
articles  is  five  per  cent,  on  imports  and  exports 
alike,  although  there  are  some  special  rates  and  a 
number  of  articles  on  the  free  list.  The  actual 
average  rate  on  imports  and  exports  runs  from 
three  to  four  per  cent.  It  is  the  general  opinion 
of  merchants  in  China  that,  should  it  become  nec- 
essary to  add  to  the  Government's  income,  this 
rate  could  be  increased  without  any  serious  detri- 
ment to  foreign  commerce.  In  Japan  the  Govern- 
ment has  found  it  necessary,  in  order  to  derive 
more  revenue,  to  seriously  increase  its  custom 
tariff,  so  that  the  present  charges  range  from 
thirty  to  fifty  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

Foreign  articles  destined  for  consumption  at 
the  treaty  ports  or  places  of  importation  pay  no 
further  taxes.  When,  however,  they  are  sent  into 
the  interior,  they  are  obliged  to  pay  internal  trans- 


156  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


portation  taxes  called  "  Likin,"  collected  at  vari- 
ous stations  along  the  trade  routes.  These  likin 
charges,  although  they  form  a  perfectly  legiti- 
mate method  of  taxation,  are  objected  to  by  the 
Chinese  quite  as  much  as  by  foreign  traders,  on 
account  of  their  uncertain  amount,  which,  accord- 
ing to  Chinese  custom,  is  left  largely  to  the  official 
in  charge,  who  collects  as  much  as  he  can.  The 
foreign  nations,  in  order  to  obviate  these  diffi- 
culties, have  arranged  with  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment to  permit  foreign  articles  destined  for  the 
interior  to  pay  a  single  tax  of  two  and  a  half  per 
cent,  to  the  Imperial  Maritime  Customs  and  then 
to  receive  what  is  called  a  "  transit  pass"  entitling 
the  goods  to  pass  the  interior  likin  stations  with- 
out further  charge.  Unfortunately  these  transit 
passes  are  not  always  respected  by  officials  in  the 
interior,  unless  they  think  that  the  shipper  will 
appeal  to  a  foreign  government,  and  therefore  the 
officials  are  apt  to  levy  likin  in  accordance  with 
their  own  needs,  and  of  the  total  collected,  but  a 
small  part  finds  its  way  into  the  public  treasury. 

The  native  merchant  has  no  such  advantage  as 
the  foreigner  in  securing  immunity  from  likin  ex- 
tortion, and  has  to  resort  to  all  sorts  of  subter- 
fuges to  escape  the  impositions  of  his  own  coun- 
trymen, one  of  the  most  frequent  of  such  resorts 
being  to  keep  his  goods  under  the  name  of  a  for- 
eign merchant  if  possible.  Another  device  was 
told  to  me  by  a  customs  official  on  the  West  River, 


Chapter  V:   Commercial  Relations       157 


where  the  local  farmers  raise  tobacco  which 
is  consumed  mostly  in  Northern  Kwang-tung. 
If  it  were  shipped  direct  it  would  be  charged 
en  route  a  large  and  uncertain  likin  tax,  the  un- 
certainty of  the  amount  being  the  worst  feature, 
as  it  may  easily  convert  an  apparently  profitable 
transaction  into  a  serious  loss.  To  avoid  this  the 
tobacco  is  loaded  on  a  sea-going  junk  and  shipped 
to  Hongkong.  From  there  the  junk  brings  it 
back  and  enters  it  at  the  point  of  original  ship- 
ment as  a  foreign  importation.  For  this  the  mer- 
chant secures  a  transit  pass  under  which  he  ships 
it  to  its  destination.  lie  has  paid  the  freight  and 
import  taxes  of  five  per  cent,  each,  the  transit 
pass  fee  of  two  and  a  half  per  cent.,  and  the  ship- 
ping charges  both  ways  to  Hongkong,  and  the 
expense  of  rehandling.  These  items  he  can  ascer- 
tain accurately  beforehand,  and  therefore  prefers 
paying  them  rather  than  run  the  likin  gauntlet, 
which  may  be  from  ten  per  cent,  to  fifty  per  cent, 
or  more. 

The  Chinaman  is  by  very  instinct  a  trader,  is 
quick  to  see  and  seize  an  opportunity  to  turn  a 
profit,  and  has,  what  few  other  Eastern  Asiatics 
have,  a  high  sense  of  commercial  honor.  Al- 
though the  great  mass  of  them  is  poor,  yet  there 
is  a  wealthy  class,  and  there  exists,  even  in  the  in- 
terior, a  demand  lor  much  more  than  the  mere 
necessaries  of  life. 

Now,  what  have  the  United  States  done  in  the 


1 58         An  American  Engineer  in  China 


past  in  this  great  country,  how  do  they  stand  there 
to-day,  what  can  they  do  and  what  should  they  do 
in  the  future?  These  are  the  considerations  that 
most  concern  us. 

To  answer  the  Hist  two  of  these  questions,  there 
are  two  sources  of  statistics  which  we  can  exam- 
ine— the  returns  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the 
Imperial  Chinese  Maritime  Customs.  Unfortu- 
nately, both  of  these  sources  are  rendered  value- 
less for  exact  deductions  because  of  Hongkong. 
This,  as  is  well  known,  is  a  British  colony,  and  one 
of  the  few  places  on  the  globe  where  actual  free 
trade  exists.  Being  a  British  colon)',  enjoying 
free  trade,  and  possessing  a  magnificent  harbor, 
it  has  become  a  great  depot,  or  warehouse,  where 
goods,  whose  ultimate  destination,  either  in  China 
or  anywhere  else  in  the  Far  East,  is  not  definitely 
fixed,  are  shipped  in  the  first  instance,  and  thence 
rebilled  to  the  point  of  consumption. 

In  this  act  their  nationality  is  lost,  for  the  re- 
turns of  the  shipping  nation  classes  them  as  ex- 
ports to  Hongkong,  while  China,  of  course,  treats 
them  as  imports  from  that  place.  The  import  re- 
turns of  the  Imperial  Maritime  Customs  show 
that  nearly  one-half  of  the  foreign  commerce 
entering  China  comes  from  Hongkong.  Thence 
many  waiters  fall  into  errors,  either  by  taking  the 
direct  trade  between  China  and  any  other  coun- 
try as  limited  to  the  reported  figures,  or  by  class- 
ing Hongkong  under   the  head  of  Great  Britain 


Chapter  V:  Commercial  Relations       159 

and  Colonies.  The  conclusions  reached  in  these 
ways  are  grievously  wrong.  Although  foreign 
goods  are  trans-shipped  from  Hongkong  to  Japan, 
the  Philippine  Islands,  Siam,  and  other  parts  of 
the  Orient,  yet  at  least  three-quarters  of  all  goods 
(of  American  probably  a  higher  proportion)  re- 
ceived there  find  their  final  market  in  China ;  so 
to  determine  approximately  the  exports  from  the 
United  States,  or  from  any  other  country  to  China, 
the  only  way  is  to  add  to  the  direct  exports  three- 
quarters  of  the  shipments  to  Hongkong.  And  to 
determine  the  relative  standing  of  the  trade  of 
several  nations,  we  should  deduct  the  Hongkong 
trade  from  China's  total  as  shown  by  the  returns 
of  the  Imperial  Maritime  Customs,  and  then  com- 
pare the  reported  direct  imports  or  exports.  This 
last  calculation  will  not  yield  the  actual  amount 
of  trade  by  about  one-half,  but  it  will  show  with 
fair  closeness  the  percentage  of  trade  secured 
and  the  rate  of  increase.  I  have  in  this  manner 
obtained  the  figures  for  the  year  1893,  the  period 
just  previous  to  the  Japanese  War;  those  of  1883 
and  1873,  respectively  the  tenth  and  the  twentieth 
year  preceding  1893  ;  and  those  for  1898,  the  fifth 
year  following,  and  also  for  1899,  the  last  com- 
plete year  of  normal  trade  conditions  existing  be- 
fore the  Boxer  revolution.  This  table  shows  the 
import  trade  of  China  exclusive  of  Hongkong 
and  the  relative  standing  of  the  leading  commer- 
cial powers,  the  actual   trade  of   which  is  not  as 


160  An  American  Engineer  in  China 

stated,  for  the  tabic  does  not  include  shipments 
through  I  [ongkong. 

DIRECT   EXPORTS   TO   CHINA. 

1875  1883  1893  1898  1899 
Hk.  Tls.  Hk.  Tls.  Hk.  Tls.  Hk.  Tls.  Hk.  Tls. 
Total,    except    Hong- 
kong    44,202,000  45,863,000  72,435,922  116,737,079  146,652,248 

Great  Britain 20,991,000  16,930,000  28,156,077  34,962,474  40,161,115 

India 16,709,000  17,154,000  16,739,588  19,135,546  31,911,214 

Japan 3,207,000  3,738,000  7,852,068  22,581,812  31,414,362 

Continent  of  Europe. .         662,000  2,385,000  5,920,363  10,852,073  13,405,637 

United  States 244,000  2,708,000  5,443,569  17,161,312  22,288,745 

In  the  above  tabic  all  the  Continental  powers  of 
Europe  are  grouped  as  one.  From  this  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  export  trade  of  the  United  States, 
an  insignificant  amount  in  1873,  has  now  out- 
stripped the  combined  exports  from  the  whole 
Continent  of  Europe,  and  will  be  soon  contesting 
for  second  place  with  India  and  Japan.  Had  it 
not  been  for  sudden  increased  shipments  in  1899 
of  certain  special  articles  like  coal  on  the  part  of 
these  countries,  which  articles  China  can  and 
should  produce,  the  United  States  would  have 
passed  the  Indian  trade  and  be  close  on  to  that 
of  Japan.  In  point  of  exports  from  China  the 
United  States  trade  in  1899  had  reached  a  point 
surpassing  that  of  any  other  country  except 
Great  Britain. 

But  along  what  lines  have  these  increases  been 
made?  Do  they  represent  only  a  greater  out- 
turning  of  raw  material — the  direct  products  of 
the  soil — or  of   manufactured    articles,   carrying 


Chapter  V:  Commercial  Relations       161 

with  them  the  results  of  American  ingenuity  and 
American  labor,  a  form  of  export  trade  always 
the  most  desirable  ? 

Taking  the  full  list,  there  were,  according  to 
the  United  States  Government  classification,  ex- 
ports in  1893  under  fifty-seven  heads,  but.  in  1898, 
according  to  the  same  classification,  exports  un- 
der seventy-six  heads.  The  greater  part  of  the 
increase  in  the  five  years  (amounting  to  a  total  of 
$6,091,613)  was  due  to  manufactures  of  cotton, 
which  increased  $3,558,794;  to  raw  cotton,  which 
increased  from  nothing  to  $370,670;  to  manu- 
factures of  iron  and  steel,  including  machinery, 
$416,048,  and  to  oils,  chiefly  kerosene,  $1,055,797. 
The  manufactures  of  cotton,  which  in  1898 
amounted  to  $5,193,427,  reached,  during  the  next 
United  States  fiscal  year  (1899),  $9,844,565.  That 
is  to  say,  the  value  of  cotton  cloths  alone  was,  in 
the  year  1899,  almost  as  large  as  the  value  of  the 
total  American  imports  into  China  during  the 
preceding  year  of  all  articles  of  whatsoever  nat- 
ure. This  class  of  goods,  the  products  of  our 
New  England  and  Southern  mills,  is  the  greatest 
single  item  of  American  commerce,  and  has  al- 
ready reached  a  point  where,  in  certain  grades,  it. 
dominates  absolutely  the  Chinese  market. 

Taking  Drills,  Jeans,  and  Sheetings,  the  three 
great  items  of  cotton  goods  consumed  by  the 
Chinese,  and  examining  the  trade  of  the  three 
northern    ports    of    Niu-chwang,    Tien-tsin,    and 


\G2  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


Che-foo,  American  goods  comprise  of  total  re- 
ceipts at  the  fust  :  ninel  y-eight  per  cent.,  and  at  the 
second  and  third  ninety-five  per  cent.,  the  small 
remaining  balance  being  divided  between  the 
English,  Indian,  Dutch,  Japanese,  and  other  man- 
ufacturing nations.  But  quite  as  extraordinary 
as  this  there  must  be  kept  in  mind  the  fact  that 
of  the  total  exports  to  all  countries  of  American 
manufactures  in  cotton  cloths,  the  Chinese  market 
consumes  just  one-half. 

Another  article  of  American  commerce  that 
figured  very  small  in  the  earlv  returns,  but  now 
shows  a  great  and  increasing  importance,  is  flour. 
It  is  shipped  almost  wholly  to  Hongkong,  and 
thence  forwarded  to  Canton,  Amoy,  or  other 
southern  Chinese  ports.  In  the  fiscal  year  end- 
ing June  30,  1898,  no  less  than  $3,835,727  worth 
was  exported  from  here,  and  during  the  corre- 
sponding period  of  1900,  a  value  of  $4,502,081. 
Wheat  is  not  grown  in  Southern  China,  and 
American  flour  has  captured  the  demand,  just  as 
American  cottons  have  done  in  the  north.  Next 
to  Great  Britain  and  Germany  our  best  customer 
for  American  flour  is  China. 

Such  is  the  state  of  our  Chinese  trade  to-day, 
and  no  one  can  find  fault  with  its  present  condi- 
tion and  its  recent  development.  But  what  of 
the  future  ? 

The  success  of  the  American  commercial  in- 
vasion depends  absolutely  on  the  maintenance  of 


Chapter  V:   Commercial  Relations       163 

the  existing  status.  China,  in  the  liberality  of  the 
regulations  affecting  foreign  commerce,  is  second 
to  no  other  nation.  In  levying  a  tax,  amounting 
to  less  than  four  per  cent.,  she  gives  preferential 
duties  to  none,  special  privileges  only  as  com- 
pelled by  the  stress  of  force  in  Manchuria  and 
Shan-tung,  and  extends  a  freedom  of  welcome 
to  all.  It  is  true  that  nations  occupying  Chinese 
territory  make  so  far  no  invidious  distinction  be- 
tween their  own  and  other  people;  but  it  must  be 
remembered  that  their  tenure  is  only  nominal,  and 
while  the  title  to  these  lands  remains  vested  in 
China,  it  would  be  difficult,  in  the  face  of  existing 
treaties,  to  impose  discriminating  rules.  Let  Rus- 
sia, however,  become  legally,  as  she  is  virtually, 
possessed  of  Manchuria ;  let  her  Trans-Siberian 
railway  be  completed,  and  let  her  claim  openly 
as  her  own,  not  only  Manchuria,  but  also  the 
metropolitan  province  of  Chi-li,  is  it  to  be  sup- 
posed for  one  moment  that  the  present  freedom 
and  equality  of  trade  that  China  offers  will  be 
maintained?  If  anyone  believes  this,  let  him  talk 
with  those  in  China  who  direct  the  course  of 
Muscovite  affairs.  These  officials,  when  in  a  con- 
fidential mood,  will  explain  that  the  Trans-Siberian 
railway  is  a  Government  enterprise,  and  that  it  is 
much  more  important  for  Russia  to  give  low  and 
special  rates  to  Russian  cotton  and  other  manufact- 
ures which  the  Government  is  fostering  at  home 
than  to  look  for  a  direct  profit  from  the  operation 


164  An  American  Engineer  in  China 

oJ  the  railway.  And  vet  Manchuria  and  the  north- 
eastern part  of  China  are  to-day  the  best,  market 
for  American  goods.  During  the  year  1899  no 
less  than  $6,297,300  worth  of  our  cottons  alone  en- 
tered the  port  of  Tien-tsin,  and  $4,216,700  worth 
entered  the  port  of  Niu-chwang  in  addition.  The 
latter  amount  was  for  consumption  in  Manchuria, 
Chinese  and  Russian.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  the  whole  import  trade  (including  exports 
through  Hongkong)  from  Russia,  Siberia,  and 
Russian  Manchuria  to  the  whole  of  the  Chinese 
Empire  amounted  to  less  than  the  imports  of 
two  grades  of  American  cotton  goods  at  Niu- 
chwang  alone.  When,  therefore,  Russia  seized 
Lower  Manchuria,  the  country  most  interested 
next  to  China,  whose  territory  was  being  de- 
spoiled, was  not  Japan,  who  was  being  robbed  of 
her  fruits  of  victory;  was  not  Russia,  who  was 
adding  another  kingdom  to  her  empire  ;  was  not 
Great  Britain,  the  world's  great  trader,  but  it  was, 
little  as  it  was  appreciated,  the  United  States. 
The  American  interests  in  seeing  commercial 
equality  maintained,  far  and  away  transcend  those 
of  any  other  nation. 

Foreign  trade  in  China  to-day  is  confined  ex- 
clusively to  the  treaty  ports  located  along  the 
coast  and  up  the  Yang-tze  River.  When  goods 
are  shipped  to  China,  they  are  resold  by  the  for- 
eign houses  resident  in  these  treaty  ports  to  Chi- 
nese merchants,  and  by  them  in  tun:  are  retailed 


Chapter  V:   Commercial  Relations       165 

in  the  interior.  So  far,  therefore,  as  the  foreigner 
directly  is  concerned,  his  trade  is  confined  simply 
to  the  outer  edge  of  the  country  ;  to  him  the  in- 
terior is  a  terra  incognita.  The  success  of  a  com- 
mercial invasion  depends,  not  on  these  treaty 
ports,  not  on  the  purchase  of  goods  along  the 
outer  edge  of  the  country,  but  on  the  possibility 
of  reaching  directly  that  great  mass  of  population 
which  lies  far  away  from  the  sea,  out  of  reach  of 
existing  means  of  transportation,  and  practically 
buried  in  the  interior.  If  they  cannot  be  got  at, 
or  if,  when  reached,  they  cannot  and  will  not  trade, 
then  it  is  not  worth  while  to  consider  any  general 
forward  movement. 

In  the  course  of  my  journey  in  the  interior  of 
China,  I  went  through  the  province  of  Hu-peh, 
which  the  Yang-tze  Kiang  traverses;  the  province 
of  Kwang-tung,  lying  along  the  China  Sea,  and, 
between  these  two,  the  province  of  Hu-nan,  which 
practically  had  not  been  traversed  before  by  white 
men.  Here  evidently  was  virgin  soil,  and  its  con- 
dition can,  therefore,  be  taken  as  a  criterion  of 
what  the  Chinaman  is  when  unaffected  by  foreign 
influences.  Even  here  I  found  that,  although  the 
foreigner's  foot  might  never  before  have  trodden 
the  streets  of  the  cities,  his  goods  were  already 
exposed  for  sale  in  the  shop-windows. 

In  thinking  of  the  Chinese,  especially  those  in 
the  interior,  we  are  wont  to  consider  them  as  un- 
civilized ;  and  so  they  are,  if  measured  scrupulous- 


166         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

Iv  by  our  peculiar  standards.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  they  might  say  with  some  justice  that  we 
are  not  civilized  according  to  the  standards  that 
they  have  set  for  themselves,  founded  on  an  ex- 
perience of  four  thousand  years.  With  all  its 
differences  from  ourselves,  a  nation  that  has  had 
an  organization  for  five  thousand  years;  that  has 


Road-side  Shrine  in  which  Papers  are  Burned 


used  printing  for  over  eight  centuries;  that  has 
produced  the  works  of  art  that  China  has  pro- 
duced ;  that  possesses  a  literature  antedating  that 
of  Rome  or  Athens ;  whose  people  maintain 
shrines  along  the  highways  in  which,  following 
the  precepts  of  the  classics  to  respect  the  written 
page,  they  are  wont  to  pick  up  and  burn  printed 


Chapter  V:    Commercial  Relations       167 


papers   rather    than    have    them    trampled    under 

foot  ;  and  which,  to  indicate  a  modern  instance, 
was  able  to  furnish  me  with  a  native  letter  of 
credit  on  local  banks  in  unexplored  Hu-nan,  can 
hardly  be  denied  the  right  to  call  itsell  civil- 
ized. In  the  interior — in  those  parts  where  no 
outside  influence  has  ever  reached  —  we  found 
cities  whose  walls,  by  their  size,  their  crenelated 
parapets,  and  their  keeps  and  watch-towers,  sug- 
gested mediaeval  Germany  rather  than  Cathay. 
Many  of  the  houses  are  of  masonry,  with  deco- 
rated tile  roofs,  and  elaborately  carved  details. 
The  streets  are  paved  with  stone.  The  shops  dis- 
play in  their  windows  articles  of  every  form,  of 
every  make.  The  streams  are  crossed  by  arched 
bridges  unsurpassed  in  their  graceful  outline  and 
good  proportions.  The  farmer  lives  in  a  group  of 
farm  buildings  enclosed  by  a  compound  wall— the 
whole  exceeding  in  picturesqueness  any  bit  in 
Normandv  or  Derbyshire.  The  rich  mandarin 
dresses  himself  in  summer  in  brocaded  silk,  and  in 
winter  in  sable  furs.  He  is  waited  on  by  a  retinue 
of  well-trained  servants,  and  will  invite  the  stran- 
ger to  a  dinner  at  night  composed  of  ten  or  fifteen 
courses,  entertaining  him  with  a  courtesy  and  in- 
tricacy of  etiquette  that  Mavfair  itself  cannot  ex- 
cel. Such  are  actual  conditions  in  parts  of  China 
uninfluenced  by  foreign  presence,  and  so  far  the 
civilization  of  the  interior  is  a  real  thing.  That 
the  Chinaman  allows  his  handsome  building's  to 


168         An  American  Engineer  in  China 


fall  into  disrepair  ;  that  his  narrow  city  streets 
reek  with  foul  odors;  that  the  pig  has  equal  rights 
with  the  owner  of  the  pretty  farm-house;  and  that 
the  epicure  takes  delight  at  his  dinner  in  sharks' 


A  Hu-nan  Farm-house 

fins  instead  of  terrapin — these  are  merely  differ- 
ences in  details  ;  and  if  they  are  faults,  as  we  con- 
sider them  to  be,  they  will  naturally  be  corrected 
as  soon  as  the  Chinaman,  with  his  quick  wit,  per- 
ceives his  errors,  when  the  opportunity  to  study 
Occidental  standards  comes  to  him. 

Chang-sha,  the  capital  of  Hu-nan,  is  one  of  the 
most  interesting  cities  in  the  whole  Empire,  as 
marking  the  very  highest  development  of  Chi- 
nese exclusiveness  and  dividing  with  Lhassa  in 
Tibet  the  boast  of  shutting  its  gates  tightly  in 
the  face  of  foreign  contamination.  In  a  previous 
chapter  an  account  was  given  of  how  the  present 
conservative  governor  had  closed  the  schools 
organized   by  his   more   liberal   predecessor,  and 


Chapter  V  :   Commercial  Relations       169 

had  tried  to  root  up  the  budding  movement  tow- 
ard reform  and  progress.  But  he  made  one  in- 
teresting-and  highly  suggestive  omission  in  allow- 
ing the  electric-light  plant  to  continue.  When, 
at  the  end  of  our  first  day  at  Chang-sha,  as  I 
stood  on  my  boat  watching  the  city  wall,  the 
picturesque  roofs,  the  junks  on  the  shore  and  the 
surging  crowd  slowly  lose  their  distinctness  in 
the  twilight,  and  then  saw  them  suddenly  brought 
into  view  again  by  the  glare  of  the  bright  electric 
arcs  as  the  current  was  turned  on  to  light  the  nar- 
row streets,  I  smiled  as  I  realized  the  utter  impos- 
sibility ol  stopping  the  onward  march  of  nine- 
teenth century  progress,  and  that  the  Chinese 
themselves,  even  at  the  very  heart-centre  of  anti- 
ioreignism,  are  ready  to  turn  from  the  old  to  the 
new. 

In  the  shop- windows  at  Chang-sha  there  are 
displayed  for  sale  articles  with  American,  Eng- 
lish, French,  German,  Japanese,  and  other  brands. 
One  shop,  I  noticed,  displayed  a  good  assortment 
of  American  canned  fruits  and  vegetables.  This 
is  the  condition  of  affairs,  not  in  Shanghai  or  Amoy, 
open  ports,  but  in  the  most  exclusively  Chinese 
section  in  the  whole  Empire.  That  the  Chinaman 
will  buy,  that  he  will  adopt  foreign  ways,  there  is 
no  question;  and  he  is  just  as  ready  to  make  the 
greater  changes  in  his  life  that  must  result  from 
the  introduction  of  railways  as  to  buy  a  few  more 
pieces  of  cotton  or  a  few  more  tons  of  steel. 


170  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


But  in  order  to  buy  more,  the  Chinaman  must 
be  able  to  sell  more  ;  for  no  mailer  what  his  incli- 
nation may  be,  unless  he  lias  something  to  give  in 
return,  he  cannot  trade.  The  exports  from  China 
have  been  expanding  gradually,  and  in  step  with 
the  imports.  In  1888  they  were  92,401,067  taels ; 
had  increased  to  116,632,311  taels  in  1893,  and  had 
further  advanced  to  195,784,332  taels  in  1899.  The 
two  great  items  of  Chinese  export,  as  was  shown 
above,  are  silk  and  tea.  The  output  of  silk  is  in- 
creasing steadily,  especially  in  the  manufactured 
form.  The  amount  of  tea  exported,  however,  is 
not  on  the  increase,  being  about  the  same  that  it 
was  ten  years  ago,  the  tea  trade  having  been  ad- 
versely affected  by  the  competition  of  Japan,  Cey- 
lon, and  India,  where  more  favorable  transporta- 
tion facilities  have  given  advantages.  Both  tea 
and  silk,  however,  are  staple  articles,  with  no 
chance  of  substitutes  being  found,  and  the  world's 
demand  for  both  is  steadily  increasing.  The 
possibility  of  enlarging  the  output  of  silk  is  great, 
tor  there  are  in  Northern  Kwang-tung  alone  large 
areas  of  land  capable  of  producing  mulberry,  that 
are  lying  idle  at  present  because  there  are  no 
transportation  facilities. 

The  idea  we  have  of  the  interior  of  China  as 
over-peopled,  and  with  every  square  foot  of  land 
under  cultivation,  is  entirely  without  founda- 
tion, except  possibly  in  certain  portions  of  the 
great  loess  plain  in  the  north.     There   is  a  great 


Chapter  V:   Commercial  Relations       171 

amount  of  land,  capable  of  producing  crops  of 
various  kinds  and  of  supporting  a  population,  thai 
to-day  lies  fallow  and  untilled.  Given  the  means 
of  sending  their  produce  to  the  sea  and  so  to  the 
foreigner,  the  people  of  the  interior  will  see  to  it 
that  the  produce  is  ready. 

Then  there  are  vast  mineral  resources  that  are 
practicallv  untouched.  China,  with  coal-fields 
exceeding  in  quantity  those  of  Europe,  imported 
last  year  no  less  than  859,370  tons  of  coal,  valued 
at  $4,477,670  gold,  nearly  the  whole  of  which  came 
from  Japan.  With  railways  to  bring  the  output 
of  the  mines  to  market,  there  will  not  only  be  no 
importing,  thus  permitting  at  least  that  amount 
to  be  expended  for  other  foreign  goods,  but  there 
should  be  a  large  export  of  coal  to  Hongkong 
for  foreign  shipping,  and  to  other  Eastern  coun- 
tries for  local  consumption.  In  addition  to  the 
coal,  there  are  beds  of  copper,  iron,  lead,  and  sil- 
ver that,  to-day  untouched,  are  only  awaiting  the 
screech  of  the  locomotive  whistle. 

In  short,  the  resources,  both  agricultural  and 
mineral,  are  at  hand  to  permit  a  foreign  commerce 
to  be  carried  on — to  pay  the  cost  of  building  of 
railways  and  to  provide  sustenance  for  a  commer- 
cial invasion. 

But  as  yet  China  has  made  no  effort  to  develop 
her  latent  powers.  As  was  shown,  the  bulk  of 
her  exports  are  confined  to  two  articles,  due  to 
her  people  not  utilizing  their  natural  advantages 


i-j2  An  American  Engineer  in  China 

in  diversity  of  soil  and  climate.  Each  locality 
produces  that  single  article  which  gives  the  best 
local  result,  without  considering  broad  market 
conditions.  Thus  in  the  south  it  is  mostly  silk 
and  rice;  in  the  central  zone  rice  and  tea,  and  in 
the  north  millet  and  wheat.  Every  bit  of  valley 
land  is  cultivated,  but  the  hills  are  let  go  waste. 
There  are  gfreat  areas  of  srrazhm-  land  where  some 
day  the  Chinese  will  let  herds  roam,  producing 
beef  and  hides,  which  they  will  turn  to  commer- 
cial profit ;  while  on  other  hill-sides,  as  I  saw  be- 
ing done  in  places,  they  will  set  out  forests,  and 
arbor  culture  will  be  well  suited  to  their  patient 
ways.  As  yet  the)7  have  worked  their  lands  only 
with  a  view  to  home  consumption  ;  there  are  many 
ways  in  which  they  can  devote  them  and  their 
energies  to  furnish  export  articles  for  the  imports 
they  will  buy. 

The  position  of  the  United  States  in  China  is 
peculiarly  advantageous,  because,  in  the  first 
place,  China  regards  our  country  as  friendly  in 
the  desire  to  protect  rather  than  despoil  her  terri- 
tory, and  because,  in  the  second  place,  other  na- 
tions have  been  willing  to  see  ours  come  forward 
when  they  would  have  objected  most  strenuously 
to  the  same  advancement  on  the  part  of  one  of 
their  own  number.  The  men  who  guide  our  na- 
tional affairs  and  foreign  commerce  should  always 
see  to  it  that  China's  confidence  is  not  abused. 
But  as  for  the  friendliness  of  other  nations  tow- 


Chapter  V:   Commercial  Relations       i 


ard  us  in  relation  to  China,  so  soon  as  the  press- 
ure of  American  trade  begins  to  be  felt  by  them, 
efforts  will  be  made  to  thwart  it  if  possible  ;  and  it 
must  be  remembered  that  to-day  all  the  machinery 
of  commerce,  in  the  way  of  banks,  transportation 
companies,  cable  lines,  and  other  forms,  is  in  their 
hands.  When  the  meeting  of  the  American  and 
European  invasions  takes  place,  unless  we  have  an 
organization,  a  base  and  rallying  point,  a  tangible 
something  besides  mere  labels  on  boxes  or  bales 
as  representing  American  force,  the  struggle  will 
be  a  hard  one,  for  the  native  is  apt  to  judge  his 
associates  by  the  outward  visible  signs,  and  with 
a  natural  tendency  to  deal  with  the  strongest.  In 
this  respect  commerce  in  the  Far  East  stands,  and 
will  stand  for  a  long  time,  on  a  different  footing 
from  that  of  commerce  in  Europe. 

In  order  to  be  thoroughly  successful,  to  expand 
our  trade  far  beyond  its  present  boundaries,  we 
should  make  a  careful  and  intelligent  study  of  the 
Chinaman  in  his  tastes  and  habits.  If  we  wish  to 
sell  him  goods,  we  must  make  them  of  a  form  and 
kind  that  will  please  him  and  not  necessarilv  our- 
selves. This  is  a  fact  too  frequently  overlooked 
by  both  the  English  and  ourselves,  but  one  of 
which  the  Germans,  who  may  be  our  real  compet- 
itors in  the  end,  take  advantage.  For  example, 
at  the  present  moment,  if  a  careful  study  were 
made  of  Chinese  designs,  the  market  for  American 
printed  goods  could  be  largely  broadened.     It  is 


174         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

not  for  our  people  to  say  that  our  designs  are 
prettier;  the  Chinaman  prefers  his  own,  and  he 
will  not  buy  any  other.  The  United  States  Min- 
ister to  China,  talking  upon  this  subject,  gave  me 
a  striking  instance  of  foolish  American  obstinacy. 
The  representative  of  a  large  concern  manufact- 
uring a  staple  article  in  hardware,  let  us  say 
screws,  had  been  working  hard  to  secure  an  order 
for  his  screws,  which  he  knew  were  better  than 
the  German  article  then  supplying  the  demand. 
At  last  he  obtained  a  trial  order,  amounting  to 
$5,000,  which  he  cabled  out;  but  it  was  given  on 
the  condition  that  the  screws  be  wrapped  in  a 
peculiar  manner,  say  in  blue  paper,  according  to 
the  form  in  which  the  native  merchant  had  been 
accustomed  to  buy  them.  Was  the  order  filled? 
Not  at  all.  The  company  cabled  back  that  their 
goods  were  always  wrapped  in  brown  paper  and 
that  no  change  could  be  made.  The  order  then 
went  to  Germanv.  To  the  American  concern  an 
order  for  $5,000  was  of  small  moment,  perhaps; 
but  they  overlooked  entirely  the  fact  that  this 
was  the  thin  edge  of  the  wedge,  opening  a  trade 
that  could  be  developed  into  tremendous  propor- 
tions. This  instance  is  not  isolated,  for,  unfortu- 
nately, the  reports  of  all  our  consuls  are  filled 
with  parallel  ones. 

A  study  must  also  be  made  of  the  grade  and 
quality  of  the  article  shipped.  It  is  no  use  to  send 
to  China,  to  be  sold  in  the  interior,  tools,  for  in- 


Chapter  V:   Commercial  Relations        175 

stance,  of  the  same  high  finish   and  quality  that 

our  mechanics  exact  in  their  own.  A  Chinaman's 
tools  are  hand-made,  of  rough  finish  and  low  cost. 
In  the  interior  cities  one  sees  a  tool-maker  take  a 
piece  of  steel,  draw  all  the  temper,  hammer  it  ap- 
proximately to  the  shape  of  the  knife  or  axe,  chisel 
or  razor,  or  whatever  other  article  he  may  be 
about  to  make  ;  then,  with  a  sort  of  drawing-knife 
pare  it  down  to  the  exact  shape  required,  retem- 
per  it,  grind  it  to  an  edge,  and  fix  it  in  a  rough 
wooden  handle.  This  work  is  clone  by  a  man  at 
a  wage  of  about  ten  cents  a  day,  and  this  is  the 
competition  that  our  manufacturer  must  meet. 
In  spite  of  the  difference  in  cost  of  labor  he  can 
do  so,  because  his  tools  are  machine-made,  and 
are  better  ;  but  he  must  waste  no  money  on  un- 
necessary finish. 

As  an  example,  the  case  of  lamps  is  directly  to 
the  point.  The  Chinaman  fairly  revels  in  illumi- 
nation ;  he  hates  the  dark,  and  everywhere,  even 
in  the  smallest  country  towns  wholly  removed 
from  foreign  influence,  it  is  possible  to  buy  Stand- 
ard oil  or  its  competitors  in  the  Chinese  market, 
the  Russian  and  Sumatra  brands.  The  importa- 
tion of  illuminating  oils  is  increasing  tremen- 
dously. In  1892  it  was  17,370,600  gallons,  and  in 
1898  it  was  44,324,344  gallons.  But  what  of  the 
lamps  in  which  this  oil  is  burned?  In  1892  the 
United  States  sent  to  China  lamps  to  the  value  of 
$10,813,  and  in  1898  to  the  value  of  $4,690.     That 


176  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


is  to  say,  lamps  are  one  of  the  few  articles 
which  show  a  decrease.  While  the  consumption 
of  oil  had  increased   more  than  two  and   one-half 

times,  the  importation  of  American  lamps  had  de- 
creased in  almost  the  same  ratio.  This  was  not 
due  to  the  manufacture  of  lamps  in  China,  but  to 
the  German  and  Japanese  manufacturers  making 
a  study  of  the  trade  and  turning  out  a  special 
article.  These  lamps — and  I  saw  them  for  sale 
everywhere,  even  in  unexplored  Hu-nan — have  a 
metal  stand,  generally  of  brass,  stamped  out  from 
thin  sheets,  with  Chinese  characters  and  decora- 
tions;  and  were  it  not  for  a  small  imprint  of  the 
manufacturer's  name  on  the  base,  they  woidd  be 
considered  of  Chinese  make.  They  are  inex- 
pensive, of  the  kind  desired  by  the  Chinaman, 
although  perhaps  not  for  sale  in  Hamburg  or 
Berlin.  On  the  other  hand,  the  American  article, 
much  more  handsome,  from  our  point  of  view, 
but  also  more  expensive,  is  of  the  same  style  as  is 
sold  on  Broadway  in  New  York. 

There  is  no  need  to  multiply  examples.  There 
awaits  the  American  manufacturer  an  outlet,  espe- 
cially for  tools,  machinery,  and  other  articles  in 
iron  and  steel.  He  will  find  a  demand  for  the 
smaller  and  lighter  machines,  rather  than  for  the 
larger  ones.  That  is  to  say,  he  must  appeal  first 
to  the  individual  worker  who  exists  now,  rather 
than  aim  at  the  needs  of  a  conglomeration  in  a 
factory  which  will  come  about  in  the  future.     The 


Chapter  V:   Commercial  Relations       177 

tools  should  be  simple  in  character,  easily  worked 
and  kept  in  order,  and  without  the  application 
of  quick-return  and  other  mechanical  devices  so 
necessary  for  labor-saving  with  us.     Light  wood- 


A  Chinese  Saw-mill 

The  teeth  of  the  saw  are  arranged   to    cut   on  the  up  stroke  instead  of 
on  the  down,  as  in  other  countries 

working  machinery  can  be  made  to  supplant  the 
present  manual-labor  methods;  and  a  large  field 
is  open  for  all  kinds  of  pumps,  windmills,  piping, 
and  other  articles  of  hydraulic  machinery. 

Cotton  goods  of  the  finer  grades,  as  well  as  the 


178         An  American  Engineer  in  China 


coarser  which  are  supplied,  household  articles  of 
all  kinds,  glassware,  window-glass,  wall-paper, 
and  plumbing  fixtures  will  find  a  ready  market, 
as  will  also  farm  equipments,  such  as  light-wheeled 
vehicles  and  small  agricultural  implements  of  all 
kinds.  In  these,  as  in  many  manufactured  arti- 
cles, American  trade  has  as  yet  made  little  or  no 
impression;  and  vet  the  American  article  has  an 
acknowledged  superiority  over  any  other  for- 
eign make. 

It  is  necessary  for  us  also  to  study  the  China- 
man himself.  The  English  and  American  traders 
make  but  little  attempt  to  learn  the  language,  and 
therefore  frequently  fail  to  come  into  personal 
contact  with  the  native  merchant.  They  are  in- 
clined to  leave  such  negotiations  to  be  conducted 
through  a  compradore,  a  native  in  the  employ  of 
the  firm,  who  makes  all  the  contracts,  and  who 
guarantees  to  his  firm  all  native  accounts,  receiving 
a  commission  for  his  services.  The  German,  and 
especially  the  Japanese,  merchants,  on  the  other 
hand,  make  a  great  effort  to  come  into  direct  rela- 
tions with  those  with  whom  they  trade.  They 
are  still  making  use  of  the  compradore  system, 
but  within  reasonable  limits.  As  to  which  course 
is  preferable  in  the  long  run  there  can  be  no  ques- 
tion. Our  houses  should  adopt,  the  suggestion 
made  in  the  report  of  the  Blackburn  (England) 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  "to  train  in  the  Chinese 
spoken  language  and   mercantile  customs  youths 


Chapter  V:   Commercial  Relations       179 

selected  .  .  .  for  their  business  capacity.  Such 
a  system,"  the  report  adds,  "  would  give  us  a  hold 
over  foreign  trade  in  China  that  present  methods 
can  never  do." 

Finally  to  be  considered,  there  is  the  official  rep- 
resentative of  the  United  States,  the  consul.  It 
is  bad  enough,  as  our  practice  is,  to  send  consuls 
to  France,  or  Germany,  or  Italy,  who  are  un- 
acquainted with  the  language  of  the  country. 
But  how  much  worse  to  send  as  our  Government 
agents  to  China,  the  nation  most  difficult  of  all  to 
come  into  relations  with,  men  without  any  idea, 
not  only  of  the  language,  but  of  the  customs  and 
the  idiosyncrasies  of  the  people. 

This  is  not  a  reflection  upon  our  present  staff, 
many  of  whom  are  excellent  and  worthy  men  and 
who  are  now  acquainted  with  the  characteristics 
of  those  to  whom  they  are  accredited.  But  under 
our  system,  by  the  time  a  man  understands  his  du- 
ties, he  is  removed.  Nowhere  else  in  the  world 
is  there  so  great  a  need  for  a  permanent  consular 
service  as  in  China. 

The  British  Government  long  ago  established 
a  separate  consular  service  for  the  East,  entirely 
distinct  from  that  elsewhere,  so  that  a  man  once 
in  the  Chinese  service  stays  there,  and  is  not  likely 
to  be  transferred  to  a  European  or  American  post. 
Secretary  Hay  has  lately  made  a  beginning  tow- 
ard this  end  by  proposing  to  establish  a  school 
at  Peking.     If  the  idea  is  not  carried  out  now, 


i  So 


An  American  Engineer  in  China 


circumstances  will  compel  its  adoption  later.  We 
should  awake  to  the  realization  of  our  opportuni- 
ties, and  unite  for  the  invasion,  not  only  of  China, 
but  of  other  Oriental  lands  as  well. 


A  Military  Officer  and  Two  Privates 


Chapter 

VI 

Finances    of    China 


THE  ability  of  the  Chinaman  to  contradict 
himself  reaches  the  maximum  in  matters 
of  finance.  This  strikes  the  observer  as 
singular,  for  the  Chinese  have  no  equals  in  their 
understanding  of  the  use  of  money,  in  their  ability 
to  husband  it  and  make  it  go  far,  and  in  their 
economical  and  saving  habits.  Yet  they  have 
elaborated  a  monetary  system  which,  for  cumber- 
someness  and  downright  wastefulness,  is  without 
an  equal. 

This  lack  of  progress  is  rendered  more  extra- 
ordinary by  the  fact  that  bank-notes,  one  of  the 
greatest  steps  in  the  way  of  making  financial 
transactions  more  convenient,  originated  in  China, 
where  they  were  known  probably  as  early  as 
A.T).  800,  or  about  eight  centuries  before  the  de- 
vice was  reinvented  in  Europe.  In  the  first  place 
there  is  no  standard  of  value;  the  nearest  ap- 
proach being  a  tael,  which  is  subdivided  deci- 
mally into  maces,  the  mace  into  candareens,  and 
the  candareen  into  li.  But  these  things  exist  in 
names  only,  and  not  as  coins,  for  the  lael  is  but  a 
weight  of  silver  bullion.  This  would  be  serious 
enough  if  there  was  only  one  tael,  but,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  there  arc  over  sixty  in  different  parts  of 
the  country  differing  in  value  as  much  as  kn  per 

181 


182         An  American  Engineer  in  China 


cent.,  the  nearest  approach  to  a  standard  being 
the  Haikwan  tael  as  used  in  the  Maritime  Cus- 
toms. When,  therefore,  a  native  merchant  wishes 
to  pay  a  debt,  it  is  not  only  necessary  for  him  to 
know  the  price,  but  to  know  the  tael  that  the 
price  is  expressed  in,  and  to  have  at  hand  a  set  of 
scales  to  weigh  his  broken  bits  of  silver,  while  a 
discussion  as  to  the  "touch"  or  fineness  of  the 
metal  offered  may  readjust  the  whole  transaction. 
There  is,  however,  a  Chinese  coin,  the  cash. 
This  is  of  copper,  round  in  shape  with  a  square 
hole  in  the  centre  to  permit  the  pieces  to  be 
strung  together.  It  is  a  coin  of  great  antiquity. 
The  earliest  forms  were  about  five  inches  in 
length  and  something  less  than  an  inch  in  width, 
shaped  like  a  small  knife  and  went  by  the  name 
of  "knife"  cash.  These  latter  coins  were  in  use 
as  early  as  2,500  B.C.,  and  owe  their  form  prob- 
ably to  the  fact  that  at  that  time  the  martial  spirit 
predominated,  and  a  man's  knife  was  his  most 
valuable  possession,  and  therefore  he  made  his 
currency  in  the  same  shape.  Later  the  knife-cash 
coin  was  changed  to  the  "bell"  cash,  which  is 
taken  to  indicate  that  the  people  had  become  more 
civilized  and  that  agricultural  pursuits  were  now 
dominant.  This  form  of  coin  began  to  come  into 
use  about  2,000  B.C.  They  are  about  2  to  2\  inches 
in  height  and  1  inch  or  more  in  width,  and  are 
shaped  somewhat  like  a  bell  with  a  hole  at  the 
top.     The    present    value    of    the    cash,  which   is 


Chapter  VI :    Finances  of  China  183 


made  of  copper  or  brass,  is  very  small,  about 
twenty  of  them  being  required  to  make  an  Amer- 
ican cent,  so  that  values  expressed  in  cash,  while 
sounding  enormous,  are  really  of  small  moment. 
Thus  an  account  of  50,000  cash  represents  but  $25 
gold,  while  to  pay  a  bill  of  $10,  the  services  of  a 
wheel-barrow  and  an  attendant  are  required.  For 
convenience  in  handling,  one  hundred  cash  are 
put  on  a  string-  and  then  ten  hundreds  are  tied 
together  in  two  parallel  strings  of  five  hundreds 
each,  the  whole  string  of  1,000  being  called  a 
tiao,  the  value  of  which  is  approximately  one 
silver  dollar,  but  depending  on  the  varying  ex- 
change between  copper  and  silver.  The  system 
of  cash  as  a  standard  of  value  is  awkward  enough 
in  theory,  but  in  practice  it  is  worse  on  account 
of  the  varieties  of  size  of  individual  coins,  saving: 
rise  to  "big"  and  "little"  cash,  eight  of  the  former 
equalling  about  ten  of  the  latter.  As  remelting  of 
coins  and  counterfeiting  is  common,  the  careful 
Chinese  has  to  examine  every  tiao  he  receives. 
At  the  treat v  ports  the  foreigners  introduced  the 
silver  dollar  from  Mexico,  and  an  attempt  has  been 
made  to  coin  for  use  in  China  dollars  by  other 
countries,  notably  the  American  experiment  of 
the  trade  dollar.  The  Chinaman,  however,  would 
have  none  of  it.  lie  had  been  accustomed  to 
understand  the  Mexican  dollar,  and  when  he  met 
with  other  coins  he  cast  them  into  the  melting- 
pot.     A  beginning  to  straighten  out    the  trouble 


An  American  Engineer  in  China 


with  its  attending  annoyances,  inconveniences, 
and  losses  has  been  made  by  the  establishing  of 
local  mints  by  some  of  the  viceroys  where  they 
strike  silver  dollars  of  the  weight  and  fineness  of 
the  Mexican  dollar  and  subsidiary  silver  coins  of 
50,  20,  10,  and  5  cents  each.  In  keeping  with  the 
lack  of  centralized  national  effort,  these  coins  are 
not  of  national  character,  but  bear  the  imprint  of 
the  coining  province.  They,  or  some  coin  based  on 
them  and  struck  by  the  central  authoril  \ ,  will  prob- 
ably become  eventually  the  standard  coin  of  the 
country,  and  the  present  system  will  be  given  up. 

The  problems  of  China's  financial  status  and 
resources,  rather  than  those  of  her  monetary  sys- 
tem, are  of  greater  world  importance,  especially 
as  some  sort  of  Government  assistance,  in  the  way 
of  building  railways,  opening  mines,  and  develop- 
ing the  country  will  be  found  necessary  and  de- 
sirable in  somewhat  the  same  way  as  has  been 
done  in  India  and  Japan. 

Owing  to  the  entire  lack  of  statistical  records, 
it  is  a  difficult  matter  to  obtain  accurately  either 
the  resources  or  the  disbursements  of  the  Chi- 
nese Government.  The  funded  debt  of  the  coun- 
try, however,  is  ascertainable,  as  such  obligations 
have  been  taken  by  foreigners. 

Previous  to  the  war  with  Japan,  the  funded 
debt  consisted  of  two  issues  of  bonds,  bearing 
date  1886  and  1887  respectively;  the  former  for 
1,855,108.82    Shanghai    taels,    and    the    other    for 


Chapter  VI:    Finances  of  China  1S5 


50,000,000  German  marks,  subject  to  reduction  by 
sinking  fund  provision.  Since  the  war  the  Gov- 
ernment has  been  obliged  to  contract  further 
loans.  The  existing  funded  indebtedness  is  given 
in  detail  in  the  following  table. 

The  net  amount  of  China's  debt  outstanding, 
exclusive  of  the  railway  debt,  for  which  there  is 
actual  property  of  at  least  equal  value  in  exist- 
ence as  an  asset,  is,  therefore,  £50,304,989.  On 
the  gross  sum  the  total  annual  payments  for.  both 
interest  and  sinking  funds  are  £3,319,624,  or  ex- 
clusive of  the  interest  on  the  railroad  loan,  which 
is  self-supporting,  £3,079,624.  The  debt  of  India, 
whose  population  is  about  the  same  as  China,  is 
about  £135,000,000,  or,  deducting  the  value  of  the 
Government  railways,  £56,000,000,  and  the  debt 
of  Japan  about  £50,000,000.  It  can  be  seen,  there- 
fore, that  in  spite  of  the  disastrous  result  of  the 
Japanese  War,  the  debt  of  China  is  not  a  large  or 
burdensome  affair. 

The  several  sinking  fund  and  interest  payments 
on  each  of  the  above  issues  have  been  promptly 
met  when  due.  To  furnish  the  sums  required  for 
these  payments  and  the  other  sums  requisite  to 
meet,  the  expenses  for  maintaining  the  various 
branches  of  the  Government,  the  Imperial  Treas- 
ury has  at  its  hand:  firstly,  the  net  returns  of  the 
Imperial  Maritime  Customs,  which  are,  however, 
pledged  specifically  as  collateral  for  some  of  the 
above  loans;  secondly,  the  net  receipts  of  the  Im- 


1 86 


An  American  Engineer  in  China 


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Chapter  VI  :    Finances  of  China  187 

perial  Chinese  Railway;  thirdly,  various  sources 
of  taxation. 

As  there  is  absolutely  no  system  oi  accounting-, 
or  of  making  detailed  reports,  it  is  impossible  to 
give  even  a  close  approximation  of  either  revenue 
or  disbursements,  except  in  the  case  of  the  Im- 
perial Maritime  Customs.  From  such  informa- 
tion, however,  as  is  obtainable,  the  resources  of 
the  Government  under  the  above  three  heads  will 
be  briefly  stated. 

Although  the  receipts  of  the  Customs  from  im- 
port and  export  duties  have  been  gradually  in- 
creasing, in  proportion  to  the  increase  in  the  im- 
port and  export  trade,  on  the  other  hand  there  has 
been  a  falling  off  in  the  receipts  from  opium  likin, 
to  about  the  same  extent  as  the  increases  in  the 
duties,  so  that  the  revenue  of  this  department  has 
varied  but  little  for  the  past  ten  years,  except 
that  the  receipts  for  1899  show  a  sudden  increase 
of  about  4,000,000  taels  over  the  previous  average, 
distributed  fairly  evenly  through  the  several 
sources  of  income.  The  report  for  the  year  1899 
gave  the  gross  receipts  as  follows  : 

Hk.  Tls. 

Import  duties 8,437471 

Export  duties 10,235,968 

Opium  likin 4,748,243 

Coast  trade  duties 1 ,763,757 

Transit  dues    835,830 

Tonnage  dues 640,191 

Total 26,661 ,460 

or  equivalent  to  about  $18,900,000  gold. 


An  American  Engineer  in  China 


The  expense  oi  maintaining  this  department  is 
not  published,  bul  from  reliable  information  it  is 
estimated  to  amount  to  about  3,000,000  taels  per 
annum,  leaving  23,500,000  taels  as  net  profit.  This 
last  sum,  the  equivalent  of  about  £3,500,000,  is  in 
itself  almost  enough  to  meet  the  services  of  the 
Government  loans.  An  increase  of  only  ten  per 
cent,  in  the  duties  would  make  it  ample. 

The  net  earnings,  over  expenses,  of  the  present 
Imperial  Chinese  Railway  amounted  to  about 
1,000,000  Mexican  silver  dollars,  prior  to  its  ex- 
tension beyond  Chung-hou-so,  near  the  Great 
Wall,  or,  at  least,  such  were  the  net  returns  as 
shown  by  the  Chinese  book-keepers,  for,  although 
the  management  of  operations  was  in  English 
hands,  the  revenue  was  received  by  native  offi- 
cials. A  loan  of  £2,300,000  was  contracted  part- 
ly to  provid'  funds  to  pay  for  the  extension  to 
Niu-chwang  and  thence  to  a  connection  with 
the  Manchurian  extension  of  the  Russian  Trans- 
Siberian  Railway.  The  work  was  completed 
shortly  before  the  "Boxer"  uprising,  when  the  rail- 
way was  largely  destroyed.  No  complete  state- 
ment of  operations  was  obtainable,  but  the  traffic 
was  apparently  sufficient  to  much  more  than  pay 
the  interest  charges.  When  reconstructed,  this  line 
will  return  to  the  Chinese  Government,  which  is 
the  owner  of  the  stock,  a  handsome  profit  over  the 
interest  on  the  bonds,  which  are  held  largely  in 
London. 


Chapter  VI :    Finances  of  China  189 

The  third  source  of  income,  namely,  the  various 
forms  of  taxation,  is,  of  course,  the  most  important, 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  most  difficult  about 
which  t(  obtain  reliable  or  even  satisfactory  in- 
formation. The  methods  of  internal  taxation  are 
complex  and  wasteful.  The  Imperial  Board  of 
Revenue  at  Peking-  makes  out  each  year  a  budget 
for  the  expenses  of  the  coming  year,  and  propor- 
tions the  total  thus  ascertained  among  the  various 
provinces  in  accordance  with  what  is  considered 
their  ability  to  pay,  and  the  governors  of  the  va- 
rious provinces  are  then  informed  of  the  amount 
which  they  will  be  required  to  turn  into  the  Im- 
perial Treasury. 

The  Governor  then  distributes  this  amount,  or 
such  additional  amount  as  he  sees  fit,  among  the 
tao-tais,  prefects,  and  magistrates  in  his  province. 
If  the  Governor  or  any  other  official  pays  in  eighty 
per  cent,  of  his  assessment,  no  comment  is  made. 
If  his  return  is  less  than  that  without  adequate 
excuse,  he  is  censured,  and  it  he  exceeds  the  full 
amount,  he  is  publicly  commended.  As  there  are 
no  accounts  kept  at  any  stage  of  the  proceedings, 
the  possibilities  for  stealing  on  the  part  of  sub-  or 
even  high  officials  are  practically  unlimited,  and 
there  is  no  question  but  that  there  is  collected 
from  the  people  of  China  a  very  much  larger 
sum  than  the  Imperial  Government  reports  as  re- 
ceiving. A  part  ol  this  amount  is  deliberately 
stolen,  and  a  part    ot   it  is   wasted  b}T   the  ridicu- 


i9°         An  American  Engineer  in  China 


lously  cumbersome  and  expensive  methods  em- 
ployed. 

The  most  fruitful  source  of  revenue  is  the  land 
tax,  payable  partly  in  cash  and  partly  in  grain. 
As  illustrating  the  wasteful  methods  in  vogue  by 
the  Government,  frequently  the  actual  money  in 
silver  bullion  is  forwarded  to  Peking,  and  even 
when  the  tax  is  remitted  by  draft,  the  latter  is 
taken  to  Peking  by  a  Chinese  official,  involving, 
of  course,  according  to  Chinese  etiquette,  the  ne- 
cessity of  being  accompanied  by  a  large  and  ex- 
pensive retinue. 

The  land  tax  is  payable  partly  in  money  and 
partly  in  grain.  The  portion  of  the  tax  payable 
in  grain  is  settled  by  actually  sending  the  grain 
to  Peking.  Of  course,  the  loss  and  waste  in  so 
doing,  in  addition  to  the  cost  of  handling  and 
storing  it  in  Government  granaries,  is  necessarily 
enormous.  Were  this  grain  sold  in  the  open 
market,  and  the  cash  remitted,  the  net  result 
would  be  much  greater. 

Next  to  the  land  tax  the  greatest  source  of  Gov- 
ernment revenue  is  the  tax  on  salt.  The  sale  of 
salt  in  China  is  an  absolute  Government  monop- 
oly, the  importation  of  foreign  salt  being  pro- 
hibited by  treaties  at  the  request  of  China. 

As  the  production  of  salt  is  one  of  China's  great- 
est industries,  and  as  the  principles  involved  are 
well  illustrative  of  native  methods,  a  short  de- 
scription will  be  of  interest.    The  country  at  large 


Chapter  VI:    Finances  of  China  191 

is  divided  into  seven  districts,  in  each  of  which 
salt  is  produced  by  evaporation  from  sea-water  or 
from  deep  brine  wells,  as  in  Sz-chuen,  and  salt  is 
not  allowed  to  be  carried  from  one  district  to 
another,  no  matter  what  the  resulting  economy 
might  be.  Salt  so  produced  is  sold  to  regularly 
appointed  Government  officials.  In  order  to  dis- 
pone of  the  salt,  the  Salt  Commissioner  of  the 
district  issues  "warrants,"  each  warrant  entitling 
the  holder  to  purchase  so  much  salt.  These  war- 
rants are  perpetual  and  are  personal  property, 
and  disposable  at  any  time  by  sale,  or  bv  will  on 
the  holder's  death.  The  number  of  warrants  out- 
standing is  supposed  to  be  fixed,  a  rule  frequently 
violated  in  spite  of  the  protests  by  the  warrant 
owners.  The  warrant  owner,  having  purchased 
his  quota  of  salt,  can  select  any  place  in  the  dis- 
trict as  his  point  of  sale,  whither  he  must  trans- 
port his  salt  and  place  it  in  a  Government  ware- 
house, where  it  is  sold  in  order  of  entry,  at  a  price 
fixed  by  the  Salt  Commissioner.  On  the  com- 
pletion of  the  retailing,  the  warrant  is  returned 
and  the  holder  may  repeat  the  operation.  Ap- 
parently the  plan  is  most  just  to  everyone,  both 
seller  and  buyer,  as  well  as  to  the  Government, 
which  receives  an  income  through  percentages 
charged.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  whole  arrange- 
ment is  most  expensive,  as  entailing  in  many  cases 
long  hauls  and  shutting  out  certain  districts  where 
salt  can  be  produced  very  cheaply.     The  oppor- 


192  An  American  Engineer  in  China 

tunities  for  helping  friends  in  granting  warrants 
or  in  allowing  their  warrants  to  take  precedence 
over  those  of  men  less  friendly  are  not  neglected 
by  the  Salt  Commissioner,  so  that  this  position  is 
one  much  sought  after,  and  when  secured  the 
holder  is  considered  on  the  way  to  wealth.  Under 
such  circumstances,  in  China  as  elsewhere,  it  is 
the  people  who  finally  pay  all  bills. 

Next  to  the  salt  tax  in  importance  is  the  likin 
tax,  levied,  as  was  explained  previously,  on  the 
inland  transportation  of  goods.  None  of  these 
likin  stations  keeps  a  record,  so  once  more  the 
opportunity  for  stealing  and  waste  is  great. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  there  is  the  revenue 
received  from  the  native  custom-houses,  from 
special  taxes  on  opium  and  miscellaneous  sources. 
The  actual  receipts  of  the  Government  under  these 
various  headings  can  be  taken  approximately,  as 
follows  : 

Tls. 

Land  tax,  in  money 25,000,000 

"        "     "    grain 7,000,000 

Salt  tax 14,000,000 

Likin  tax 1 3,000,000 

Native  customs 1 ,000,000 

Opium  tax 2,500,000 

Miscellaneous  sources 6,000,000 

68,500,000 

which,  with  the  net  return  of  the  Maritime  Cus- 
toms, give  a  revenue  of  95,000,000  taels,  or  about 
5,ooo,ooo  gold  per  annum. 


Chapter  VI:    Finances  of  China  193 


The  principal  thing  for  which  the  Government 
of  China  is  likely  to  incur  further  obligations  will 
be  in  the  line  of  railways  or  other  internal  im- 
provements. The  railways  created  by  these  obli- 
gations should  be  sell-sustaining,  and,  therefore, 
practically  not  add  to  the  Government's  burdens. 

Should,  however,  it  become  necessary,  there 
are  many  ways  in  which  the  Government  can, 
under  proper  financial  administration,  increase 
its  receipts.  The  following  are  some  of  the  op- 
portunities: 

1.  Maritime  Customs  charges,  which,  as  pointed 
out  above,  amount  to  an  average  of  something 
less  than  four  per  cent.,  can  be  materially  raised 
without  interfering  with  Chinese  trade. 

2.  The  Native  Customs  can  and  should  be  con- 
solidated with  the  Maritime  Customs  Bureau. 
No  department,  such  as  Native  Customs,  entirely 
in  the  hands  of  Chinese  officials,  returns  the  full 
receipts.  This  fact  is  strikingly  brought  out  by 
Mr.  George  Jamieson,  British  Consul  at  Shanghai, 
in  a  pamphlet  published  by  him  in  1897  on  the 
"  Revenue  and  Expenditure  of  the  Empire,"  the 
best  monograph  on  the  subject,  and  to  which  the 
author  is  indebted  lor  part  of  the  information  in 
this  chapter.  As  in  the  ease  of  the  provincial 
governors,  so  the  Native-Customs  tao-tais  are 
"assessed"  by  the  Board  of  Revenue  certain 
amounts  each  year,  which  amounts  or  proper  ex- 
cuses  must    be    forthcoming.      Having    met   the 


i94  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


assessment,  no  one  scrutinizes  the  methods  or 
actual  collections.  Mr.  Jamieson  records  that  the 
Shanghai  tao-tai  who  was  "  assessed  "65,980  taels, 
reports  as  having  received  65,991  taels,  or  a  sur- 
plus of  11  taels,  equal  to  about  $8.  A  wonderful 
piece  of  accurate  estimating  on  the  part  of  the 
Peking  officials  !  As  Mr.  Jamieson  says,  "  It  needs 
but  a  glance  at  the  forest  of  masts  that  line  the 
banks  of  the  river  (at  Shanghai)  to  show  that  the 
native  junk  traffic  is  still  of  very  considerable 
proportions,  and  that  the  total  duties  of  the  year 
as  stated  are  altogether  too  ridiculous.  Such  a 
sum  must  represent  more  nearly  a  week's  collec- 
tion than  a  year's."  The  Governor  of  Che-kiang 
in  the  same  year  did  even  better  than  his  Shang- 
hai confrere,  arranging  his  accounts  to  show  a 
balance  of  40,000  taels,  the  exact  amount  required  ! 
These  are  instances  of  what  is  taking  place  all 
over  China,  in  every  Government  office  where 
money  is  handled.  The  official  class  is  not  only 
corrupt  and  dishonest  to  a  point  that  we  can 
scarcely  conceive,  but  they  have  been  at  it  so 
long,  and  the  system  is  so  perfect,  that  it  has 
ceased  to  cause  comment  or  even  to  be  thought 
of,  except  as  something  quite  legitimate. 

3.  The  introduction  of  railways  will  increase 
both  the  internal  and  external  trade,  thereby  add- 
ing to  the  Government  revenue,  both  from  likin 
and  Maritime  Customs. 

4.  The  whole  method  of  tax  gathering  can  be 


Chapter  VI:    Finances  of  China  195 

reorganized  so  as  to  save  an  enormous  amount  of 
waste  and  stealing.  There  is  probably  little 
doubt  but  that  the  people  of  China  now  pay  at 
least  twice  as  much  and  probably  more  than  the 
Imperial  Government,  actually  receives.  In  this 
connection  it  is  interesting  to  compare  the  land 
and  salt  taxes  of  China  and  India,  where  the  con- 
ditions, in  regard  to  population  and  comparative 
wealth,  are  quite  similar: 

Tls. 
Land  tax — India 100,000,000 

China 25,000,000 

Salt  tax  —  India 33,000,000 

China 14,000,000 

In  like  manner,  the  internal  tax  on  native  opi- 
um, which  now  amounts  to  about  2,500,000  taels, 
should,  by  those  who  have  studied  the  problem, 
amount  to  from  15,000,000  to  18,000,000  taels. 
As  the  latter  sum  is  the  one  which  the  people 
probably  pay,  the  difference  between  the  pay- 
ments and  the  reported  receipts  is  lost  by  steal- 
ing or  waste. 

5.  Post-office  Receipts. —  A  little  over  a  year 
ago  the  Post-office  Department  was  organized 
as  a  sub-department  of  the  Maritime  Customs. 
Previous  to  that  time  each  separate  commercial 
district  of  China  maintained  its  own  local  post- 
office.  It  is  yet  too  early  to  note  the  beneficial 
result  of  this  action.  There  is  no  doubt,  how- 
ever, that  after  the  new  system  has  become  thor- 


196         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

oughly  well  established  and  further  extended,  it 
will  work  a  profit  to  the  Government,  especially 
as  the  management  is  under  the  control  of  for- 
eigners. 

There  is  one  consideration  in  regard  to  the 
general  stealing  of  public  funds,  or  the  system  of 
"squeezes"  and  "presents,"  as  it  is  euphemisti- 
cally called,  that  must  be  kept  in  mind;  which  is, 
that  the  official  salaries  paid  to  Government  of- 
ficers are  ridiculously  small,  and  in  many  cases 
actually  insufficient  to  meet  the  ordinary  disburse- 
ments for  clerk  hire  and  other  entirely  proper  ex- 
penses which  the  incumbent  has  to  pay  out  of  hi^s 
stipend.  This  compels  him  to  procure  funds  as 
best  he  can,  and  as  the  insufficiency  of  salary  is 
understood  by  everyone,  the  principle  and  ne- 
cessity for  stealing  can  be  said  to  be  recognized 
officially  and  publicly.  Of  course,  once  started  it 
is  carried  to  the  utmost  extreme,  and  under  such 
conditions  that,  even  if  the  official  is  perchance 
reasonably  honest,  anything  like  economy  is  out 
of  the  question.  Should  Chinese  officials  be  paid 
proper  compensation,  the  expenses  of  the  general 
and  local  governments  would  be  much  greater 
than  they  are  now,  but  by  getting  competent  and 
honest  men  the  returns  would  be  still  more  in- 
creased; besides  which,  it  is  possible  to  bring 
about  a  still  greater  reform  in  abolishing  the  ex- 
isting terribly  wasteful,  expensive,  cumbersome 
methods  and  instituting  therefor  a  simple  direct 


Chapter  VI :    Finances  of  China 


197 


system.  Japan  has  already  carried  out  a  system  of 
reforms  such  as  is  outlined  above,  showing  that  it 
is  possible  for  an  Oriental  nation  to  have  its  finan- 
cial methods  put  on  a  solid  basis.  China  can  do 
the  same.  Without  increasing  the  burdens  of  the 
people,  but  by  a  mere  reorganization  of  methods, 
it  is  possible  to  produce  a  much  greater  net  rev- 
enue than  the  various  public  treasuries  receive, 
and  one  quite  sufficient  to  meet  any  and  all  le- 
gitimate requirements.  As  the  country  becomes 
more  opened,  as  trade  grows,  as  industries  are 
multiplied,  there  will  come  a  general  rise  in  all 
values,  returning  a  corresponding  increase  in 
Government  income  without  inflicting  hardships 
on  the  people. 


"Bell"  Cash 

This  coin  is  over  2,000  years  old 


Chapter 

VII 

Chinese     Construction 


IT  must  always  be  kept  in  mind  that  the  twen- 
tieth century  development  of  China  will  be 
along  lines  Chinese  and  not  European  ;  that  is, 
it  will  be  in  conformity  with  native  characteris- 
tics, modified  by  modern  ideas.  This  would  be 
an  unnecessary  truism  were  it  not  apparently  lost 
sight  of  at  times  by  those  planning  for  China's 
development,  and  not  always  remembered  by 
foreigners  in  their  general  relations  with  the 
Chinese  Government  and  people.  It  is  therefore 
pertinent  to  inquire  what  is  the  condition  of  their 
art  of  construction,  wherein  are  the  abilities  of 
the  Chinese  sufficiently  advanced  to-day,  and 
wherein  must  their  resources  be  supplemented  in 
order  to  bring  up  the  industrial  development  of 
the  country  to  the  new  standard. 

Everyone  knows  that  the  Chinese  once  led  the 
world  in  scientific  and  material  development,  but 
that  they  were  acquainted  with  the  principles  of 
good  engineering  design  was  a  surprise  to  me. 
At  the  seaports  where  foreigners  have  resided,  or 
even  in  those  portions  of  the  Empire  into  which 
foreign  ideas  might  have  penetrated,  it  was  ex- 
pected to  see  structures  bearing  the  imprint  of 
modern  skill  in  design  or  construction  ;  but  it  was 
not  expected  to  find  such  things  in  the  unexplored 

iq8 


Chapter  VII:    Chinese  Construction      199 


interior,  remotely  or  entirely  removed  from  out- 
side influences,  and  of  such  self-evident  age  as  to 
stamp  them  as  genuinely  Chinese,  both  in  work- 
manship and  plan. 

The  structures  that  impress  the  engineering  ob- 
server most  strongly  are  the  bridges,  the  pagodas, 
the  city  walls,  and  certain  details  of  building  con- 
struction. The  arch,  beautiful  from  the  scientific 
as  well  as  the  aesthetic  point  of  view,  is  generally 
believed  to  be  of  Roman  origin,  and  is  considered 
to  be  one  of  the  evidences  of  their  advance  over 
other  nations.  It  was  not  known  to,  or  at  least 
never  used  by,  the  Greeks  ;  and  although  the  shape 
appears  in  certain  specimens  of  Hindoo  architect- 
ure, it  is  of  false  variety — that  is,  a  succession  of 
protruding  corbels.  In  China,  on  the  other  hand, 
we  find  it  of  most  widespread  and  general  appli- 
cation, and  examination  shows  that  the  principles 
involved  are  thoroughly  understood,  as  the  arches 
are  composed  of  a  complete  ring  of  voussoirs,  ra- 
dially jointed  and  of  proper  proportions,  making 
it  therefore  a  true  arch  and  establishing  beyond 
question  the  Chinaman's  complete  understanding 
of  the  scientific  principles  on  which  it  rests. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  general  use  ot  the  design 
in  all  parts  of  the  country  and  the  undoubted  an- 
tiquity of  so  many  of  t  he  exist  ing  examples  clearly 
demonstrate  that  it  long  antedates  any  possible 
foreign  suggestions,  and  go  a  long  way  to  estab- 
lish  it  as  of   Chinese  origin,  which,  however,  like 


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Chapter  VII  :    Chinese  Construction      201 

printing  and  gunpowder  and  so  many  other  in- 
ventions and  discoveries,  never  passed  beyond 
the  national  oorders. 

The  largest  application  of  the  arch  principle  is 
in  the  building  of  bridges,  where  spans  of  thirty 
to  forty  feet  are  common,  and  single  spans  of 
fifty  feet  were  seen.  Longer  spans  than  these, 
though  perhaps  existing,  are  not  usually  required, 
as  those  streams  which  can  be  bridged  do  not,  as 
a  rule,  call  for  single  openings  larger  than  will 
suffice  to  pass  small  boats.  The  arches  are  usu- 
ally of  the  full  half-circle,  with  the  spring  above 
the  ordinary  flow  line.  The  arch  joints  are  cut 
close  and  filled  with  hard,  firm  mortar,  while  the 
spandrels  are  always  built  independently  of  the 
arch,  and  usually  of  inferior  workmanship,  in- 
dicating clearly  that  the  designer  understood  the 
theory.  The  piers  frequently  have  \r-shaped  ends 
up  stream,  evidently  to  diminish  scouring  action 
and  to  prevent  drift  trash  from  catching,  rather 
than  for  the  more  usual  purpose  as  ice  breakers, 
for  such  additions  are  common  even  in  the  south- 
ern districts  where  ice  is  unknown.  The  road- 
way is  guarded  by  carved  railings  in  the  case 
of  the  more  elaborate  structures,  or  by  a  solid 
parapet,  some  of  the  latter  that  1  saw  being  com- 
posed of  concrete.  These  arches  have  a  grace 
of  outline  based  on  proper  proportion,  a  solidity 
in  appearance  resulting  from  good  construction, 
coupled  with  a  very  evident  sound  application  of 


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Chapter  VII :    Chinese  Construction     203 

theory  to  practical  uses  in  accordance  with  the 
requirements  of  local  conditions — considerations 
that  stamp  them  as  construction  works  of  a  very 
high  order,  although  their  size,  as  compared  with 
arches  in  other  lands,  may  be  small. 

Take  the  illustrations  of  the  Ping-hsiang  bridge, 
and  the  one  marked  "A  beautiful  single  span."  In 
the  former  let  the  reader  note  the  arch  lines ;  the 
proportions  existing  between  the  arches  and  the 
piers  ;  the  cut-water  ends  to  the  latter  to  prevent 
drift  catching  ;  the  carved  stone  railing,  supple- 
menting but  not  detracting  from  the  lines  of  the 
main  structure  ;  and  finally  the  shrine  on  the  cen- 
tre pier,  indicating  that  although  the  constructor 
was  compelled  to  place  a  pier  in  midstream,  that 
nevertheless  he  had  the  courage  to  emphasize  it, 
and  that  by  making  it  a  feature  of  the  design  he  jus- 
tified its  location.  In  the  other  structure,  crossing 
a  stream  flowing  from  the  Cheling  Pass  to  the 
China  Sea,  we  have  a  design  admirably  meeting 
in  every  respect  the  local  conditions.  The  stream 
is  of  no  great  importance,  so  that  a  central  pier 
and  two  spans  would  have  answered  as  a  mere 
bridge,  but  such  would  not  have  been  a  well-con- 
sidered design.  On  one  side  the  ground  is  much 
higher  than  on  the  other  ;  which  is  overcome  by 
spanning  the  brook  with  a  bold  single  arch,  whose 
rise  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  high  bank,  with 
steps  on  the  lower  side.  Either  of  these  beau- 
tiful   structures    would   have   done  credit  to  any 


c 

a, 
CO 


CO 


DP 


Chapter  VII :    Chinese  Construction      205 

architectural  engineer  brought  up  in  the  most  fas- 
tidious school  o[  Europe.  They  both  are  ol  es- 
sentially Chinese  origin,  the  former  of  sonic  an- 
tiquity. Probably  neither  of  them  was  ever  seen 
by  foreigners  before  my  trip. 

The  freedom  that  a  designer  takes  when  he  is 
sure  of  his  principles,  has  caused  some  of  the  Chi- 
nese arches  to  take  extraordinary  shape,  such  as 
the  single  span  near  Peking,  carried  to  a  height 
seemingly  out  of  all  proportion,  but  intentionally 
so  in  order  to  pass  boats  with  short  masts  ;  and 
yet,  such  a  design,  in  a  locality  without  wheeled 
vehicles  where  a  short  excessive  gradient,  is  not  a 
serious  matter,  not  only  meets  the  requirements 
of  economical  planning,  but  adds  the  charm  ol 
irregularity,  which,  in  a  country  distinguished 
for  sameness  and  lack  of  contrast,  is  especially 
attractive. 

The  Chinaman  is  very  much  like  a  cat — he  ob- 
jects to  getting  his  feet  wet;  and  as  he  carries  his 
own  loads,  which  he  thinks  he  can  do  more  cheaply 
than  by  horse  or  carriage,  he  sees  to  it  that  all 
streams  are  bridged.  The  arch  he  uses  nearly 
always  in  the  large  structures,  and  employs  it 
down  the  scale  even  to  small  culverts  ;  although, 
when  he  begins  to  deal  with  little  openings,  he 
frequently  makes  use  of  stone  stringers.  It  suit- 
able stones  can  be  procured  he  does  not  hesitate 
to  be  bold,  as  some  beams  I  measured  were  thirty 
feet  long  and  fifteen  inches  deep.     In  other  in- 


Chapter  VII :   Chinese  Construction      207 

stances  the  effective  spans  were  made  shorter  by 
placing  corbels  beneath  the  ends  of  the  stringers, 
and  occasionally  intermediate  supports  were  fur- 
nished by  framed  bents  of  long  stones,  exactly 
like  the  ordinary  American  timber  construction. 

But  the  most  remarkable  bridge  I  saw  was  a 
wooden  cantilever,  in  the  eastern  part  of  Hu-nan, 
where  no  white  man  had  ever  previously  been  ; 
a  bridge  remarkable,  not  only  for  its  extraordi- 
nary design,  but  also  for  the  fact  that  it  was  of 
wood,  a  material  on  account  of  its  scarceness  rarely 
used  for  heavy  construction.  This  bridge  con- 
sisted of  six  spans,  with  a  length  of  four  hundred 
and  eighty  feet  and  a  width  of  twenty  feet,  paved 
with  cobble-stones,  while  over  it  is  erected  a 
frame  to  carry  awning-mats  in  summer.  The  sub- 
structure is  masonry  piers  in  good  condition,  but 
evidently  of  good  age,  while  the  superstructure  is 
of  wood  and  a  genuine  cantilever  in  design.  The 
timbers  which  compose  it  are  about  ten  inches 
square,  laid  in  alternating  layers  in  the  direction  of 
and  across  the  line  of  the  bridge.  As  will  be  seen 
from  the  illustration,  each  longitudinal  layer  pro- 
jects beyond  the  one  next  below,  and  the  series  of 
such  projections  builds  out  the  cantilever  arms 
until  the  opposite  ones  are  near  enough  together 
to  be  spanned  by  a  single  timber.  The  super- 
structure is  not  so  old  as  the  substructure,  the 
timber  having  been  undoubtedly  replaced,  possi- 
bly many  times;  but  it  was,  when  visited,  in  hor- 


Chapter  VII :   Chinese  Construction      209 

rible  condition  of  decay.  At  the  time  of  my  visit, 
an  attending  mandarin,  knowing  its  rotten  condi- 
tion, requested  that  our  party  should  cross  it.  in 
detachments,  so  as  to  divide  the  crowd  and  avoid 
concentration.  It  will  stand,  however,  without 
repairs  or  attention — as  all  structures  in  China  are 
allowed  to  stand — until  some  day  an  extra-large 
crowd  will  be  too  much  for  the  rotten  timbers  to 
hold  up  and  it  will  collapse,  with  great  loss  of  life. 
From  the  point  of  view  of  artistic  and  essen- 
tially Oriental  design  the  pagoda  possesses  the 
most  interest.  These  singular  constructions,  of 
which  nearly  every  city  possesses  at  least  one, 
fairly  dot  the  surface  of  the  country.  Their  pur- 
pose appears  to  be  twofold — either  as  monuments 
commemorating  the  virtues  or  the  munificence 
of  some  departed  benefactor,  or  as  agents  of  "  feng 
shui  "  (literally  "  wind  and  water "),  the  spirit 
genius  of  good  and  evil,  which,  if  properly  pro- 
pitiated, will  ward  off  pestilence  and  famine,  and 
permit  only  prosperity  and  happiness  to  visit  the 
neighborhood.  These  very  curious  towers  are  of 
great  antiqnitv,  Chinese  records  authenticating 
their  origin  at  least  as  far  back  as  the  early  part 
of  the  Christian  era.  In  size  they  vary  from  the 
little  ones,  which  are  nothing  more  than  roadside 
shrines,  to  what  was  once  the  most  beautiful  and 
largest — the  celebrated  porcelain  pagoda  of  Nan- 
king, destroyed  in  the  Tai-ping  rebellion.  This 
extraordinary  structure  had  a  height  of  two  nun- 


Chapter  VII :    Chinese  Construction      211 


dred  and  sixty-one  feet,  was  built  of  masonry  and 
covered  with  glazed  tiles  of  many  colors,  and  was 
a  monuraenl  to  native  skill  in  erection  as  well  as  to 
artistic  sense  in  design.     Unfortunately,  most,  of 


Pagoda  near  Wu-chang 

the  large  pagodas  are  being  allowed  to  crumble  to 
decay,  although  some  are  tended  and  give  hope  of 
standing  for  other  generations  to  admire.  The 
prominent  ones  vary  in  height  from  one  hundred 
to  two  hundred  feet,  are  usually  octagonal  in  plan, 
with  straight  but  tapering  sides,  and  always  are 


Chapter  VII :    Chinese  Construction      213 

composed  of  an  ndd  number  of  stories;  although 
sometimes  these  stories  are  double  ones,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  Wu-chang  pagoda,  one  ot  the  most 
beautiful  and  best  preserved  in  the  country. 
They  were  always  built  plumb,  and  it  now  in  bad 
condition,  it  is  the  result  of  lack  of  care  and  the 
ravages  of  time  and  not  of  original  faulty  con- 
struction. Chinese  houses  conform  to  certain 
general  types;  the  pagoda,  therefore,  in  its  wide 
range  of  size  and  of  decorations,  from  the  severely 
plain  stone  structure  to  the  one  covered  with  col- 
ored tiles,  marks  one  of  the  few  breaks  in  the 
characteristic  national  ride  of  uniformity  and  fur- 
nishes an  interesting  construction  study. 

The  method  oi  putting  up  buildings  with  a  rigid 
frame  and  then  encasing  them  with  thin  mason- 
ry walls  is  supposed  to  be  something  essentially 
American  ;  but,  like  so  many  designs  claimed  as 
modern,  this,  too,  finds  a  universal  application  all 
over  China.  Although  the  Chinese  have  every- 
where at  hand  brick-making  clay,  the  product  is 
not  good,  owing  to  their  unfortunate  tendency  to 
false  economy — which,  in  this  particular  case, 
takes  the  form  of  deficient  burning.  To  give 
sufficient  rigidity,  house-walls  have  to  be  made 
thick,  and  thick  walls,  they  found  as  we  have 
found,  encroach  seriously  on  floor  space;  there- 
fore, they  have  developed  "cage  construction." 
The  materials  employed  are  usually  round  tim- 
bers, connected  by  mortise  and  pin  joints,  while 


Chapter  VII:   Chinese  Construction      215 

the  root  truss  is  a  peculiar  and  ingenious  com- 
bination of  beams,  taking  load  near  the  abutments 
only.  The  accompanying  illustration  shows  such 
a  building  in  process  of  being-  encased. 

If  the  arches  display  a  knowledge  of  theory, 
the  houses  are  ingenious  applications  of  practice, 
and  the  pagodas  are  an  appreciation  of  the  beau- 
tiful.  The  walls,  without  which  no  large  city  in 
China  exists,  and  which  reach  their  maximum  in 
Peking  or  in  the  even  more  famous  Great  Wall, 
are  an  evidence  that  our  Oriental  friend  was 
equally  at  home  with  large  construction.  These 
great  structures,  with  their  massive  proportions 
(as  in  the  Great  Wall,  with  its  length  of  fifteen 
hundred  miles,  across  wild  hills  and  desert  val- 
leys), with  their  keeps  and  arched  gateways,  with 
their  parapets  and  moats,  fill  the  observer  with 
admiration. 

It  is  said  that  a  nation's  character  is  shown  in 
its  architecture.  This  seems  eminently  true  in 
China,  for  no  matter  where  one  goes  the  same 
general  outline,  varied  slightly  by  local  condi- 
tions, meets  the  eye,  and  wherever  a  new  build- 
ing goes  up  it  takes  the  same  form  as  the  one  it 
displaces,  so  that  one  feels  that  not  only  is  every- 
thing the  same  throughout  the  country,  but  that 
it  is  just  the  same1  now  as  it  was  ever  so  main- 
years  ago,  which  is  probably  the  fact.  But  if  the 
architectural  form  illustrates  the  Chinese  lack  of 
originalitv  and  progress  of  development,  the  con- 


o 


Chapter  VII:    Chinese  Construction      217 

st  ruction  of  their  houses  illustrates  t  he  regrettable 
side  of  their  abilities — the  want  <>l  thoroughness. 
In  all  their  work  they  use  poor  material  and  work- 
manship, so  that  their  building's  will  not  stand 
close  inspection,  and  soon  succumb  to  the  ravages 
of  time.  China  is  consequently  singularly  devoid 
of  antique  buildings.  In  addition  to  the  original 
defects  in  construction,  the  little  care  that  the 
buildings  receive  is  exceedingly  distressing;  even 
in  Peking  such  artistically  beautiful  structures 
as  the  Temple  of  Confucius  or  the  Hall  of  Clas- 
sics— perfect  types  of  Chinese  architecture — are 
actually  dropping  to  pieces  for  need  of  a  few 
repairs.  This  deficiency  in  appreciating  thor- 
oughness and  the  necessity  for  maintenance  will 
be  found  one  of  the  greatest  obstacles  to  be  over- 
come in  industrial  development. 

The  engineering  progress  of  the  Chinese  has 
been  along  static  rather  than  dynamic  lines — that 
is,  they  have  learned  how  to  construct  bridges, 
erect  pagodas,  and  concentrate  their  forces  to 
build  a  wall  fifteen  hundred  miles  long,  but  not 
how  to  construct  a  machine,  or  to  do  any  of  the 
things  the  basal  principle  of  which  is  movement. 

Perhaps  this  is  due  to  the  similar  traits  that  we 
find  forming  the  framework  of  the  national  char- 
acter ;  or,  perhaps,  it  is  due  to  the  dread  of  displac- 
ing manual  labor  and  the  baseless  fear  of  depriving 
their  fellow-men  of  work.  But  no  matter  what  the 
cause  may  be,  this  marks  the  cleavage  line  along 


2i8         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

which  foreign  inspiration  in  the  art  of  construc- 
tion will  Imd  an  outlet  for  development. 

In  solid,  stationary  structures,  the  Chinese  can 
supply  their  own  needs  unaided;  hut  the  held 
lor  producing  those  aggregations  ol  engineering 
and  mechanical  skill  based  on  the  theory  or  ap- 
plication of  movement,  especially  of  economical 
movement,  lies  unbroken  and  the  soil  is  rich.  The 
idea  of  economy  of  movement  is  absolutely  lack- 
ing in  the  Chinese — a  singular  circumstance,  as 
there  is  no  other  nationality  so  strongly  economi- 
cal, even  to  the  point  of  parsimony.  This  trait  is 
shown  in  their  dwellings,  in  their  clothes,  and  in  all 
their  details  of  living,  except  in  those  where  move- 
ment is  the  main  theme.  The  development,  in 
which  foreign  ideas  will  predominate  and  foreign 
aid  be  required,  will  be,  therefore,  along  this  line, 
and  will  show  itself  primarily  in  methods  of 
moving  people  and  goods — namely,  in  means  of 
transportation;  secondly,  in  the  methods  of  mov- 
ing the  great  untouched  mineral  wealth  from  its 
existing  subterranean  hiding-places  to  the  sur- 
face, that  is,  in  mining;  and  thirdly,  in  all  matters 
of  construction  whose  parts  are  moving — namely, 
machines. 

The  first  of  these  is  self-evident,  and  will  be  taken 
up  in  detail  in  another  chapter.  The  develop- 
ment has  already  begun.  The  second,  mining,  is 
about  to  begin,  but  is  dependent  on  one  form  of 
the  devices  under  the  third  head — the  means  of 


Chapter  VII:   Chinese  Construction      219 

moving'  water.  The  third  class  is  general  in  its 
characterand  will  include  all  kinds  ol  machines. 

The  science  ol  handling  water  is  practically  un- 
known in  China,  the  Chinese  pump  being  a  mosl 
crude  and  uneconomical  device,  and  wholly  in- 
capable of  raising  water  to  a  height  above  that 
of  a  few  feet,  and  the  lack  of  proper  and  efficient 
devices  has  absolutely  prevented  the  develop- 
ment of  China's  mineral  resources.  Mining-  by 
native  methods  has  consisted  in  sinking  a  shaft  or 
an  inclined  drift  down  the  vein  until  water  was 
encountered,  or  until  coolies  could  no  longer  raise 
the  load  on  their  backs,  a  limit  in  the  latter  case  of 
two  hundred  feet.  When  one  of  these  contingen- 
cies is  reached  the  mine  is  abandoned.  In  order 
to  develop  the  mineral  wealth,  the  first  requisite 
is  a  pumping  plant  ;  the  second,  of  much  less  im- 
portance, is  elevating  machinery. 

It  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  great  country  without 
good  pumps,  but  such  China  is.  The  native  device 
consists  of  flat  paddles  attached  to  a  wooden  end- 
less chain  turning  over  two  sprocket  wheels,  on 
one  of  which  pedals  are  fixed.  One  or  two  men, 
sitting  on  a  frameover  this  wheel,  work  the  pedals 
with  their  feet  and  thus  by  pulling  on  the  chain, 
elevate  the  water.  The  water  supply  of  the 
crowded  eities  depends  on  hundreds  ol  coolies 
constantly  passing  to  and  fro  carrying  the  water 
in  buckets  from  the  river,  lor  all  cities  are  located 
on  rivers,  and   there   is  no  attempt  at  any  sort  of 


220  An  American  Engineer  in  China 

tire  protection,  except  such  as  can  be  done  with 
hand-buckets  or  by  tearing  down  houses  in  the 
path  of  the  conflagration. 

As  the  whole  system  oi  Chinese  farming  seems 
to  depend  on  the  areas  that  can  be  irrigated,  there 
is  imposed  a  limit  to  such  lands  as  can  be  reached 
by  natural  flow,  while  low  lands,  subject  to  fre- 
quent inundation,  are  abandoned.  For  all  these 
purposes  the  foreign  pump  will  find  an  enormous 
field  of  application  and  will  prove  to  be  an  impor- 
tant element  in  Chinese  development. 

If,  therefore,  I  were  asked  to  enumerate  the 
relative  importance  of  engineering  development, 
I  should  say — means  of  transportation;  hydraulic 
machinery;  mining;  and  then,  those  machines 
which  can  compete  against  a  very  low-priced 
manual  labor,  and  which  can,  if  possible,  enter  a 
field  of  work  not  now  undertaken,  such  as  elec- 
tric lighting,  or  enter  the  existing  fields  so  as 
to  change  present  conditions  without  too  violent 
or  immediately  revolutionary  effects. 


Chapter 

VIII 

Inland    Communication 

FROM  one  end  of  the  Chinese  Empire  to 
the  other  there  is  not  an  instance  of  a  road 
whose  quality  would  be  termed  in  any  other 
country  as  even  moderately  good.  China's  riv- 
ers and  waterways  are  her  highways,  and  it  is  on 
them  that  she  relies  for  means  of  internal  com- 
munication. In  the  way  of  rivers  and  sea-coast, 
nature  has  been  most  liberal.  Her  coast  line  is 
as  long  as  both  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts  of 
the  United  States — that  is,  as  long  as  the  distance 
from  Florida  to  Maine  added  to  the  distance  from 
Southern  California  to  Washington,  and  from  it 
there  are  noble  rivers  penetrating  to  the  very 
western  confines  of  the  Empire. 

No  attempt  has  been  made  by  the  Chinese  of 
their  own  motion  to  improve  the  rivers  by  remov- 
ing their  bars  or  deepening  their  channels  in 
order  to  render  them  more  navigable.  Such  a 
course  for  the  general  good  is  still  far  beyond 
Chinese  comprehension.  Along  the  coast  and  for 
short  distances  in  the  estuaries,  the  Government, 
through  the  agency  of  the  Maritime  Customs  and 
Sir  Robert  Hart,  has  established  and  maintains 
light-houses,  has  located  beacons  and  buoys  mark- 
ing channels  and  dangerous  places,  while  other 
Governments,  principally  the    British,   have  sur- 

221 


222  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


veyed  and  charted  the  coast  and  harbors  ;  but  all 
such  work,  even  when  done  by  the  home  Govern- 
ment, is  ol  foreign  inspiration.  lTp  the  rivers 
where  the  traffic  is  wholly  Chinese,  nothing  of 
the  kind  has  been  attempted.  The  streams  are 
tilled  with  bars  and  bowlders  and  other  obstruc- 
tions, and  the  loss  in  time,  property,  and  life  which 
they  cause  is  something  terrible.  If  a  picture  of 
Chinese  river-navigation  is  desired,  accurate  in 
its  details,  true  in  color,  and  not  exaggerated  in 
its  tale  of  suffering,  most  of  which  is  quite  un- 
necessary, it  can  be  found  in  Mr.  Little's  work, 
"  Through  the  Yang-tze  Gorges,"  or  in  "  The 
Yang-tze  and  Beyond,"  bv  Mrs.  Bishop.  Both  tell 
of  the  Great  River,  where  for  some  four  hundred 
miles  west  of  I-chang  it  has  laboriously  cut  its  way 
through  the  mountains  in  deep  gorges,  the  gran- 
deur and  wildness  of  whose  scenery  is  surpassed 
nowhere.  Into  these  gorges  huge  bowlders  have 
tumbled  from  the  sides  above,  and  in  places  even 
the  cliffs  themselves  in  by-gone  ages  have  slid  off 
and  fallen  forward.  The  bowlders  and  the  debris 
have  never  been  removed,  but  are  left  lying  where 
they  fell,  and  over  and  around  them  tumbles  and 
boils  the  Yang-tze,  already  a  river  of  some  two 
thousand  miles  in  length,  which  bears  down,  and 
even  up,  against  such  difficulties,  the  out-  and 
in-commerce  of  all  Western  China.  On  other 
streams  where  shoals  are  the  worst  enemy,  the 
great  losses  and  dangers  are  eliminated,  but  the 


Chapter  VIII:    Inland  Communication     223 


delays  and  their  costs  are  not.  As  one  jour- 
neys along  a  Chinese  river  at  its  low  stage  in  win- 
ter, there  is  scarcely  a  moment  when  there  is  not 
one  junk  hard  aground  with  her  crew  pushing 
and  struggling  with  their  bamboo  poles  to  get  her 
off.  It  won  Id  be  bad  enough  if  these  laborious 
and  exhausting  methods  were  resorted  to  only 
occasionally  and  unexpectedly,  but  such  terrific 
waste  of  human  energy  is  uncomplainingly  ac- 
cepted as  quite  regular  and  inevitable.  It  is  al- 
most incredible  that  the  strongest  opposition  to 
an  amelioration  of  their  own  condition  through 
improved  methods  of  transportation  comes  from 
these  very  boatmen. 

In  the  summer,  when  the  rivers  are  in  flood, 
unless  there  is  a  favorable  wind  to  aid  in  stem- 
ming the  swift  currents,  the  same  struggle  is  re- 
peated ;  while  at  night,  during  both  winter  and 
summer,  all  traffic  ceases,  owing  to  the  uncertain- 
ties of  navigation,  and  yet,  these  are  China's  main 
arteries  of  trade,  transportation,  and  inland  com- 
munication, and  it  is  extraordinary  to  what  extent 
they  are  employed  in  spite  of  the  entire  failure  to 
improve  their  navigation  or  remove  natural  ob- 
stacles and  impediments.  Being  the  chief  lines  of 
travel,  on  them  are  located  the  great  cities,  for 
with  scarce  an  exception  every  town  of  impor- 
tance in  the  Empire  is  situated  on  some  soil  of 
a  navigable  waterway,  and  no  matter  where  the 
traveller  goes  in  the  interior,  he  will  find  along 


a 

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Chapter  VIII:    Inland  Communication     225 

the  river  front  oi   the  cities  he  visits,  a  veritable 
forest  of  masts  and  a  solid  raft  oi  hulls. 

A  great  deal  has  been  said  and  written  about 
the  improvement  of  the  rivers  of  China  and  the 
introduction  upon  them  oi  steamers  of  type  some- 
what similar  to  that  used  on  shallow  American 
rivers  or  on  the  Nile.  Advocates  of  such  pro- 
posals have  pictured  the  running  of  steamboats 
up  the  Yang-tze  to  Chung-king,  sixteen  hundred 
miles,  and  on  about,  seven  hundred  miles  more 
on  such  tributaries  to  the  Yang-tze  as  the  Siang, 
the  Han,  and  the  Kan.  Southern  and  Southwest- 
ern China  it  is  proposed  to  reach  by  improving 
the  West  and  other  streams  for  distances  aggre- 
gating-, possiblv,  one  thousand  miles;  while  the 
Yellow  or  the  Pei  Rivers  are  to  provide  perma- 
nent means  of  steam  communication  in  the  North. 
Constructively  such  a  proposition  is  entirely  fea- 
sible. The  rivers  of  China  can  be  improved,  but 
their  improvement  will  cost  a  great  deal  of  money. 
Practically,  however,  it  is  out  of  the  question  un- 
til the  Chinese  people  have  been  educated  to  con- 
sider the  undertaking  and  maintaining  of  such 
works  in  a  light  different  from  that  which  they  do 
now.  Obviously,  it  is  impossible  that  such  work 
could  be  done  by  private  corporations,  for  there 
would  be  no  means  of  preventing  open  competi- 
tion, when  the  expensive  work  would  be  complet- 
ed :  it  would,  therefore,  have  to  be  undertaken  un- 
der Government  direction  and  expense.     It  so,  the 


226         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

hinds  must  conic  from  general  taxation  or  special 
boal  charges.  To  levy  a  genera]  tax  for  matters 
oi  general  utility  is  something  so  unheard  of  that 
no  Government  would  dare  do  it  until  the  people 
by  gradual  experience  in  other  ways  with  similar 
experiments  had  learned  to  see  t  lie  benefits.  To 
levy  a  special  tax  on  boats,  that  is,  on  the  class 
who  would  be  most  directly  benefited,  would  be 
equally  unpopular  and  impossible.  The  junkmen 
would  reply  that  they  do  not  complain,  which  is 
quite  true,  and  they  would  say  that  to  make  trans- 
portation easier  would  deprive  many  men  of  em- 
ployment who  are  now  hired  as  crews,  and  the 
consequent  saving  would  result  finally  not  to  the 
junk  owner's  financial  benefit,  but  in  the  lowering 
of  freight  charges  to  consumers,  a  matter  in  which 
they  have  no  interest.  Such  reasoning  may  be 
illogical,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  it  is  be- 
lieved bv  the  Chinese  to  be  sound.  But  even  if 
it  were  possible  to  have  the  streams  canalized  or 
deepened,  who  will  pay  the  dredging  and  mainte- 
nance charges,  for  all  the  rivers  oi  China  are  of 
such  a  nature  that  constant  deposition  of  alluvial 
matter  is  taking  place?  If  a  Chinaman  will  not 
repair  his  house,  in  which  he  alone  is  interested, 
is  he  likely  to  stand  the  expense  of  maintaining 
rivers  in  which  his  interest  is  so  remote  and  indi- 
rect as  not  to  be  discernible?  To  improve  the 
rivers  requires  united  effort,  and  a  united  effort 
for  the  good  of  others  is  an  altruistic  policy  which 


Chapter  VIII:    Inland  Communication     227 

it  will  lake  a  iong  time  to  make  the  Chinese  un- 
derstand. As  an  engineer,  who  has  looked  into 
the  feasibility  oi  doing  this  very  thing,  I  am  con- 
vinced that  it  will  be  easier  and  better,  as  has 
been  found  in  other  countries,  to  build  railways 
on  the  banks  rather  than  to  try  to  improve  the 
streams. 

For  coast  and  sea-going  work  the  Chinaman 
uses  a  junk  oi  large  and  strong  proportions,  and 
on  the  rivers  one  more  adapted  to  the  particular 
needs.  Except  for  use  on  the  lower  reaches  of 
the  Yang-tze,  where  deeper  water  permits  some 
latitude  in  construction,  the  up-river  boats  are  of 
one  general  type.  The  hull  is  flat-bottomed  and 
constructed  of  heavy  planks,  with  a  stout  half- 
round  timber  at  the  deck  line,  to  serve  as  a  guard 
when  the  boats  are  banging  together  at  landing- 
places.  The  bow  and  stern  are  square,  and  the 
latter  is  curved  upward  to  form  a  poop.  The  hull 
is  divided  by  transverse  wooden  bulkheads  into 
water-tight  compartments.  It  is  a  singular  and 
interesting  fact  that  Marco  Polo  noted  this  very 
useful  device  when  he  was  in  China  in  the  thir- 
teenth century,  and,  alter  giving  a  minute  de- 
scription, so  that  there  is  no  possibility  ol  his  mis- 
taking it,  shows  the  intent  by  stating,  "  The  object 
ol  this  is  to  guard  against  accidents,  which  may 
occasion  the  vessel  to  spring  a  leak."  Staunton's 
account  of  Lord  Macartney's  Embassy  in  1796 
again    reports   it,  as   did    Abbe    Hue  some   years 


en 


< 


o 

bo 


Chapter  VIII  :    Inland  Communication     229 

later.     The  bulkhead  was  introduced  in  European 

ship  building  in  1840  as  a  brilliant  and  new  idea. 
Thus  it  is  that  at  almost  every  turn  in  this  queer 
land  one  meets  with  some  device  which  we  regard 
with  pride  as  a  modern  invention,  but  which  the 
Chinese  have  employed  so  long  that,  its  origin  is 
forgotten. 

A  deck  load  can  be  housed  under  curved 
covers  of  bamboo  matting  resting  on  permanent 
frames.  Under  these  covers  the  crew  ol  five  men 
or  more  also  find  quarters,  while  the  owner  and 
his  family  reside  in  the  stern.  There  are  one  or 
two  masts,  according  to  the  size  ol  the  boat,  stand- 
ing without  stavs  and  carrying  large  sails  of 
cotton  canvas  or  light  bamboo  mats.  ()l  boats 
of  this  description  there  are  tens  ol  thousands, 
and  they  pass  and  repass  in  endless  processions. 
Usually  the  boat  itself  is  kept,  in  lair  condition. 
but  the  same  cannot  be  said  of  the  sails.  A  new 
sail  is  scarcely  ever  seen,  and  many  of  them  are 
so  dilapidated  as  to  cause  wonder  at  their  being 
set  at  all.  But  a  Chinese  never  considers  time 
as  of  value  ;  he  feels  no  incentive  to  keep  his 
source  of  motive  power  in  repair,  but  goes  on 
using  it  as  it  is  until  it  can  be  no  longer  hoisted. 

Even  when  his  attention  is  called  to  the  loss  of 
time  involved,  he  will  make  the  amusing  reply 
that  should  he  go  faster,  no  higher  freighl  rate 
will  be  paid,  and  what  could  be  done  with  his 
crew  during  the  time  saved  ?     On  one  occasion 


If] 


>* 

£> 


ca 


in 


Chapter  VIII  :    Inland  Communication 


when  making  a  river  trip,  where  afixed  price  had 
been  agreed  <  a  for  the  journey,  I  found  the  junk 
to  be  equipped  with  bad  sails.  On  complaining 
to  the  captain,  he  said  he  had  better  ones,  but  that 
he  was  keeping  the  new  ones  sale  at  home! 

Boats  rigged  like  these,  without  keels,  and 
of  shallow  draft,  cannot  make  headway  when  both 
wind  and  current  are  adverse.  When  this  occurs, 
or  when  the  wind  tails  entirely,  recourse  is  had 
to  poling,  rowing,  or  the  more  Laborious  method 
of  "tracking,"  which  consists  in  dragging  the 
junk  by  means  of  a  rope  of  twisted  bamboo  fibres 
attached  at  one  end  to  the  masthead  and  at  the 
other  to  yokes  over  the  shoulders  of  the  crew 
ashore. 

On  rivers  where  rapids  are  moderate,  but  which 
are  too  great  to  be  overcome  by  a  single  crew,  it 
is  the  custom  lor  boats  to  wait  until  a  united  force 
has  been  collected  sufficient  to  pull  each  one  up 
against  the  current.  On  such  rivers  as  the  upper 
Yang-tze,  where  the  rapids  are  very  strong,  there 
are  "tracker"  settlements  providing"  sufficient 
extra  labor  always  at  hand  to  help  ascending 
craft.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  men  or  more  on 
the  tow  lines  are  frequently  required. 

The  Chinese  junkmen  form  a  distinct  class  b\ 
themselves  and  in  some  localities  are  under  special 
laws.  Their  boats  are  their  houses,  on  which 
they  are  born,  live,  and  die.  The  women  do  not 
bind   their  feet,  and  take  their  turn  with  the  men 


Chapter  VIII  :   Inland  Communication     233 

at  the  helm,  sail,  oar,  pule,  or  even  track  line,  in 
addition  to  doing  their  own  work  of  preparing 
the  meals  for  the  crew  and  looking  after  the  fi- 
nances of  the  institution.  When  things  go  wrong, 
and  in  accordance  with  Chinese  custom,  all  begin 


The  Equality  of  Sex.     A  Man  and  a  Woman  at  the  Oar 


to  shout  and  each  one  to  work  on  his  own  account 
and  so  nullify  the  labor  ol  someone  else,  then  the 
strident  notes  of  the  voice  of  the  Amazon  skipper 
will  rise  above  the  other  din,  and,  finally,  but  not 
until  alter  the  use-  ol  language,  whose  rhythm  and 
force  suggests  that  ol  the  old  style  deep-sea  sailor, 
will  she   succeed  in    drowning  the  orders  of  the 


234         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

others  and  bring  about  some  sort  of  effort  in 
unison. 

On  reaching  points  where  the  shallowness  of 
the  water  stops  the  passage  of  such  junks  as  draw 
more  than  two  or  three  feet,  cargoes  are  trans- 
shipped to  smaller  boats;  and  this  goes  on  until 
finally  little  sampans  (literally,  "three  boards"), 
boats  of  the  flimsiest  description,  drawing  four 
inches  or  less,  are  employed  to  carry  goods  to  the 
very  extreme  of  river  navigation. 

In  the  south,  there  is  found  plying  on  the 
waters  that  intersect  the  province  of  Kwang-tung 
and  its  neighbors  a  form  of  large  junk,  called  a 
Canton  River  boat,  with  a  large  sail,  and  in  addi- 
tion a  stern-wheel  like  a  Mississippi  River  steam- 
boat. They  are  worked  by  crews  of  natives  rang- 
ing from  twelve  to  thirty-six  in  number,  according 
to  the  size  of  the  craft,  and  each  carries  a  hundred 
or  more  passengers.  For  more  speedy  transit,  and 
contrary  to  the  common  belief  that  the  Chinese 
does  not  appreciate  quickness,  there  is  the  "  slip- 
per "  boat,  so  called  from  its  resemblance  in  form 
to  that  useful  article.  These  little  boats  are  very 
light  in  construction,  and  are  propelled  by  four 
oarsmen,  either  men  or  women,  of  whom  three 
stand  up  and  push  on  the  oars,  while  one  sits  down 
and  pulls.  The  passengers  lie  at  full  length  in 
the  toe.  A  speed  of  eight  miles  an  hour  is  at- 
tained. 

Arduous,  however,  as  is  the  task  of  transport- 


CO 


236         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

ing  goods  from,  say,  Shanghai  or  Canton  into  the 
interior  by  means  of  river  navigation,  it  is  as 
nothing  compared  with  the  labor  required  to  de- 
liver them  at  a  destination  removed  from  the  wa- 
ter-way. This  is  done  almost  wholly  by  coolies 
travelling  on  foot.  The  horse  is  little  used,  except 
in  Northern  China.  Where  men  receive  as  wages 
but  five  to  ten  cents  per  diem,  the  horse  cannot 
compete,  especially  when  he  has  not,  as  with  us, 
the  economy  of  cheaper  living,  for  in  China  both 
men  and  horses  are  grain  fed. 

The  vehicle  for  land  transportation,  both  for 
goods  and  passengers,  varies  in  different  parts  of 
the  Empire.  On  the  great  plains  in  the  north, 
which,  by  their  nature,  have  permitted  the  con- 
struction of  passageways,  that  by  way  of  eu- 
phemism are  called  roads,  we  find  a  springless 
two-wheeled  cart  drawn  by  a  little  pony  or  ox, 
which  form  the  sole  means  of  transportation  in 
Peking.  They  are  the  essence  of  torture  to  ride 
in,  but  the  badness  of  the  going  will  permit  noth- 
ing else.  On  the  great  trade  route  northwest 
from  Peking,  camels  in  caravans  are  employed. 
As  the  region  of  the  great  plain  is  left,  the  horse 
and  cart  disappear,  and  the  wheelbarrow  takes 
their  place.  The  Chinese  barrow,  of  course,  dif- 
fers from  its  European  namesake,  but  is  not  with- 
out very  excellent  qualities.  As  used  in  Central 
China,  the  wheel  is  large,  being  about  thirty  inches 
in  diameter,  with  the  body  of  the  vehicle  balanced 


Chapter  VIII :    Inland  Communication     237 

on  the  axle,  and  on  both  sides  of  the  wheel  like  an 
Irish  jaunting  car.  In  some  cities,  like  Shanghai, 
these  wheelbarrows  are  for  hire  like  cabs  by  the 
natives,  and  as  little  or  no  load  comes  on  the 
wheelman,  it  is  not  an  infrequent  sight  to  see  him 
pushing  four  fares  at  a  speed  of  four  or  five  miles 
an  hour. 


Fast  Freight  by  Wheelbarrow 

In  the  up-country  of  the  Yang-tze  Valley  such 
wheelbarrows  are  the  great  means  of  fast  freight 
transportation.  On  them  the  farmer  will  take  his 
supply  of  produce  to  market,  or  if  he  has  to  take 
his  wife  along,  for  she  with  her  small  feet  cannot 
walk,  he  will  usually  place  her  on  one  side  and 
possibly  a  dead  hog  that  he  has  slaughtered  that 
morning  on  the  other  side  in  order  to  balance  her 
weight. 


u 


Chapter  VIII  :    Inland  Communication     239 

As  the  Yaog-tze  is  left  and  Southern  China  is 
approached,  it  is  interesting  to  note  the  gradual 
discontinuance  of  the  wheelbarrow;  its  wheel 
gets  smaller  and  takes  a  position  farther  forward, 
more  like  the  western  machine,  and,  at  last,  it 
disappears  from  use  entirely. 

The  rich  or  official  Chinese  on  a  journey  always 
uses  a  sedan  chair  borne  by  two,  three,  or  four 
men,  according  to  his  means  and  station,  and  fol- 
lowed by  a  line  of  coolies  carrying  the  miscella- 
neous lot  ol  goods  and  encumbrances  supposed  to 
be  necessary  for  his  comfort.  Such  a  man  never 
walks,  as  it  would  be  quite  beneath  his  dignity  to 
do  so.  On  my  own  trip  it  was  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  that  the  attending  officials  could  be  per- 
suaded, if  they  really  ever  were,  that  it  was  pos- 
sible for  a  man  to  prefer  the  freedom  of  being  on 
foot  to  the  cramping  restraint  of  the  little  box  of 
a  chair. 

But  whether  in  the  north  or  in  the  centre  or  in 
the  south,  if  the  Chinaman  is  unable  to  call  to  his 
aid  the  springless  cart  or  the  wheelbarrow,  he 
has  at  all  times  at  his  service  his  own  back,  and 
the  greatest  part  of  the  country's  commerce  is 
carried  in  two  baskets,  each  of  which  is  suspended 
from  a  bamboo  pole  resting  on  the  shoulders  of 
some  coolie.  In  a  Chinese  city  the  last  thing  one 
hears  before  dropping  to  sleep  is  the  "  he-ho  "  sing- 
song of  the  poor,  hard-working  coolie,  as  late  at 
night  he  is  carrying  his  loads  through  the  narrow 


240         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

streets  below,  and  again  the  first  thing  in  the 
morning  it  is  this  same  ceaseless  song  that  greets 
the  ear.    On  the  roads,  uphill  and  down,  day  after 


Boy  Carrying  Coal  from  the  Mines  to  the  River 

day,  he  plods  along  carrying  his  loads  of  rice,  tea, 
silk,  or  opium  from  his  little  farm  to  the  market- 
town  on  the  river,  and  takes  back  with  him  an  equal 
burden  of  Lancashire  or  New  England  cottons, 
of  Russian  or  Pennsylvania  oil,  or  other  articles 
of  foreign  import.  1  have  seen  even  coal  carried 
for  ten  to  fifteen  miles,  up,  over,  and  down  a  range 
of  eight  hundred  feet  of  elevation  before  it  could 
be  loaded  into  boats  to  find  its  way  down  the 
Yang-tze.     This  would  be  bad  enough  and  expen- 


Chapter  VIII  :    Inland  Communication     241 

sivc  enough  if  6nly  the  coolie  had  a  decent  road 
on  which  to  walk.  But  if  no  care  is  taken  of  the 
waterways,  even  still  less  attention  is  paid  to  the 
landways,  there  being  no  central  authority  by 
which     highways    are    laid    out   and    maintained. 


A  Typical  Road  on  Top  of  a  Dike  Between  Rice-fields 

As  each  land-owner  has  to  give  up  to  the  gen- 
eral public  a  portion  ol  his  too  small  farm,  from 
which  donation  he  derives,  so  far  as  he  can  see, 
but  a  small  personal  benefit,  he  usually  does  SO  by 
giving  a  strip  along  one  side  of  his  tract,  or  on  the 


242  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


top  of  one  of  the  little  dikes  forming  the  rice-field 
terraces.  In  either  ease,  as  neither  the  farm  lines 
nor  the  rice-field  dikes  are  straight,  the  road,  so 
called,  winds  its  way  in  and  out,  increasing  the 
normal    length    by    at    least    one-half.      In    width 


A  Road  Paved  with  Stone  Slabs  Showing  the  Groove  Cut 
by  Wheelbarrows 


it  is  rarely  more  than  that  required  for  two 
men  to  pass.  In  districts  where  there  is  a  heavy 
concentrated  travel,  some  of  these  roads  have 
been  paved  with  cobble-stones,  or  if  it  is  a  section 


Chapter  VIII  :    Inland  Communication     243 

where  wheelbarrows  are  in  use,  they  may  have 
been  laid  with  longitudinal  stone  slabs,  in  which 
the  wheels  of  countless  barrows  have  cut  a  groove 
several  inches  in  depth.  A  few  of  the  great  roads, 
such  as  the  one  leading  to  the  Ming  Tombs, 
northwest  of  Peking,  or  across  the  Che-ling  Pass 
in  the  Nan-ling  Range,  were,  many  years  ago,  care- 
fully paved  with  stone;  but  it  is  now  nobody's 
business  to  make  repairs,  and  these  great  monu- 
ments of  a  past  constructive  era  are  dropping  into 
decay.  In  the  north  where  wheeled  vehicles  are 
used,  the  roads,  in  order  to  accommodate  them, 
have  to  be  wider  than  the  narrower  paths  in  the 
south,  and  as  the  soil  is  of  an  alluvial  nature  and 
not  fitted  for  road-making,  the  general  condition 
of  affairs  is  even  worse. 

No  better  picture  of  the  method  of  construct- 
ing the  Chinese  road  and  its  lack  of  maintenance 
can  be  found  than  that  given  by  Dr.  A.  II.  Smith 
in  his  "  Village  Life  in  China."  In  referring  to 
the  fact  that  the  ordinary  road  is  but  wide  enough 
for  one  vehicle,  so  that  when  two  attempt:  to  pass, 
it  can  be  done  only  by  trespassing  on  the  crops, 
he  writes:  "To  prevent  this,  the  farmer  digs 
deep  ditches  along  his  land,  but  when  he  drives 
his  own  cart  he,  too,  becomes  a  trespasser;  thus  a 
state  of  chronic  and  immitigable  warfare  is  estab- 
lished, for  which  there  is  absolutely  no  remedy. 
Where  land  is  valuable  and  is  all  of  private 
property,  road   repairs  are  out    of  the    question. 


244         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

There  is  no  earth  to  repair  with,  and  without  re- 
pair the  roads  soon  reach  a  condition  beyond  the 
possibility  of  any  repairs.  Constant  travel  com- 
presses and  hardens  the  soil,  making  it  lower  than 
the  adjacent  fields.  In  the  rainy  season  the  fields 
are  drained  into  the  road,  which,  at  such  times,  is 
constantly  under  water.  A  slight  change  of  leyel 
allows  the  water  to  escape  into  some  still  lower 
road  and  thus  a  current  is  set  up  which  becomes 
eventually  a  brook  and  then  a  rushing  torrent.  It 
is  a  proverb  that  'a  road  one  thousand  years  old 
becomes  a  river,  just  as  a  daughter-in-law  of  many 
years'  standing,  summers  into  a  mother-in-law.'  ' 

Such  are  the  lines  of  communication  every- 
where in  China.  Such  are  the  difficulties  and 
obstacles  to  be  overcome  and  surmounted  at  tre- 
mendous personal  cost  by  the  Chinese  in  main- 
taining not  merely  his  foreign  commerce,  but  that 
which  is  many  fold  greater,  his  own  internal  com- 
merce. What  the  cost  in  humanity  is  can  be 
understood  only  by  seeing  the  labor  required ; 
what  it  is  in  money  can  easily  be  imagined,  and 
that  the  charge  for  transportation  runs  as  high 
as  ten  cents  to  fifteen  cents  per  ton  per  mile 
is  not  surprising.  To  talk  to  the  Chinese  of  the 
wasteful  and  unnecessary  expense  is  useless. 
They  must  be  shown  by  practical  example  that 
their  methods  are  actually  detrimental.  What 
that  practical  example  is  and  how  it  can  be  shown 
will  be  told  in  another  chapter. 


Chapter 

IX 

Railways 

THE  preceding  chapter  gave  a  description 
of  the  transportation  facilities  of  China  and 
the  condition  in  which  they  are  allowed  to 
exist.  The  state  of  affairs  is  quite  anomalous.  In 
other  countries,  including  Japan,  good  high-roads 
were  constructed  and  maintained  long  before  rail- 
ways were  thought  of,  thus  permitting  internal 
trade  to  be  carried  on,  if  not  with  the  economy 
and  speed  of  steam,  at  least  with  reasonable  de- 
spatch and  cost,  against  which  railways,  when  in- 
troduced, were  obliged  to  compete.  In  China 
there  was,  and  is,  nothing  of  the  kind.  It  is  not 
a  question  whether  any  line  or  system  of  railways 
can  stand  the  competition  of  existing  canals  or 
high-roads,  but  whether  it  is  best  ab  initio  to  im- 
prove rivers,  to  lay  out  roads,  or  to  build  railways. 
'The  answer  to  this  question  is  not  difficult  to  find. 
It  is  idle  to  expect  any  initiation  from  the  great  in- 
ert mass  of  Chinese  inaction,  and  the  sole  hope  for 
the  beginning  of  a  revolution  of  existing  methods 
lies  in  finding  some  way  in  which  the  foreigner 
can  levy  a  direct  tariff  in  return  for  his  services, 
where  no  expense  will  be  incurred  by  the  Chinese 
themselves  previous  to  the  charge  for  actual  ser- 
vices rendered,  and  where  the  direction  of  the 
maintenance  of  the  facilities  created  will  not  be 

245 


246         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

under  Chinese  control.  This  can  be  accomplished 
practically  only  by  railways,  and  not  by  improving 
rivers  or  making  highways,  even  if  the  latter  would 
satisfv  the  requirements  of  modern  commercial 
conditions.  In  China,  therefore,  we  shall  see  rail- 
ways built  first,  followed  by  highways  and  event- 
ually by  improved  rivers,  as  might  naturally  be 
expected  in  the  country  where  the  order  of  things 
is  always  reversed. 

When  about  i860  the  opening  of  the  interior 
of  China  was  first  seriously  considered  by  foreign- 
ers, the  extraordinarily  favorable  conditions  for 
railways  was  at  once  appreciated,  and  from  then 
to  now  there  has  been  a  constant  outside  pressure 
on  the  Chinese  officials  and  people  to  overcome 
their  national  antipathy  to  change.  But  it  was  not 
until  1876  that  official  consent  was  obtained  for  the 
first  line.  This  was  projected  to  run  nine  miles, 
from  Shanghai  to  Wu-sung,  at  the  junction  of  the 
Whang-poo  and  Yang-tze  Rivers,  on  the  former 
of  which  Shanghai  is  situated.  The  line  was  con- 
structed with  a  thirty-inch  gauge,  and,  although  it 
traversed  a  perfectly  flat  country,  it  was  given  an 
absurdly  tortuous  alignment,  in  order  to  avoid 
graves,  special  tracts  of  land,  houses,  and  similar 
obstacles.  The  Chinese  regarded  the  construction 
with  apparent  indifference.  But  foreigners,  al- 
though knowing  that  in  itself  the  line  had  no  great 
importance,  nevertheless  hailed  the  project  as  the 
opening  of  the  door  to  future  railway  operations. 


Chapter  IX  :    Railways  247 

Almost  immediately  after  its  completion,  the  Chi- 
nese Government  bought  it,  an  act  that  was  be- 
lieved to  indicate  that  they  were  ready  to  take  up 
railways.  It  was  true,  for  they  took  up  this  one 
and  threw  the  rails,  cars,  and  locomotives  into  the 
river,  and  with  them  went  all  hopes  that  an  era 
of  Chinese  development  toward  occidental  civiliza- 
tion had  arrived.  After  this  disappointment  rail- 
wav  construction  languished,  and  China  continued 
to  get  along,  as  she  had  done  for  many  centuries, 
and  as  indeed  she  does  still,  with  junks,  sampans, 
ponies,  and  coolies.  Some  statesmen,  by  means 
of  memorials  to  the  throne,  urged  upon  the  im- 
perial authorities  the  advisability  of  making  a 
change  and  adopting  a  new  order  of  things  ;  but 
the  memorials  were  referred  to  some  Government 
board,  where  they  were  conveniently  pigeon- 
holed. 

But  the  first  actual  forward  step  was  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Kai-ping  coal-mines,  eighty-four 
miles  northeast  of  Tien-tsin.  This  fine  deposit  of 
really  excellent  bituminous  coal  required  an  outlet 
to  market.  In  1881  the  construction  of  a  small 
tram-way  was  begun  to  transport  coal  a  few  miles 
to  a  river,  whence  it  could  find  its  way  by  junk  to 
tide-water.  This  little  tram-way,  projected  by  the 
native  proprietors  to  be  operated  by  horses,  was 
the  real  beginning  of  the  Chinese  railway  system. 
The  work  was  intrusted  to  an  English  engineer, 
Mr.  C.  W.  Kinder,  to  whose  courage  and  persist- 


X 


Chapter  IX  :    Railways  249 


encc  the  present  status  of  railway  development 
in  China  is  largely  due.  He  began,  unknown  to 
the  Chinese,  the  construction  of  a  small  loco- 
motive, made  up  mainly  from  parts  oi  old  ma- 
chines that  he  could  obtain  on  the  ground.  This 
engine,  appropriately  named  the  "  Rocket  of 
China,"  was  actually  put  in  service  on  this  col- 
liery tram-road  during  the  first  year  o(  the  load's 
operation,  and  served  to  convert  it  from  its  origi- 
nal character  into  a  real  steam  railway. 

By  demonstrating  to  the  Chinese  owners  the 
great  economy  oi  steam  traction,  this  engine  ap- 
pealed to  their  pocketbook  reasoning,  the  near- 
est way  to  reach  the  native  mind,  and  so  won  for 
itself  a  permanent  place. 

Step  by  step,  mile  by  mile,  the  little  railway 
was  extended,  lirst  to  Tien-tsin ;  then  in  1893, 
ninety  miles,  to  Shan-hai-kw  an,  the  point  where 
the  Great  Wall  of  China  runs  into  the  sea  ;  and 
by  1899  forty  miles  farther,  to  Chung-hou-so, 
with  construction  projected,  and  at  this  writing 
just  completed,  to  Niu-chwang,  where  connection 
is  to  be  made  with  the  Chinese  Eastern  Railway, 
the  Manchurian  branch  of  the  Russian  Trans-Si- 
berian load. 

That  the  railway  has  become  a  permanent  in- 
stitution in  China  there  is,  of  course,  no  question. 
The  energy  of  the  Government  in  pushing  the 
construction  of  its  own  system  proves  that  the 
day  of  tearing  up   rails,  as  was  done  on   the  Wu- 


25°         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

sung  line,  is  past.  It  is,  indeed,  the  opinion 
and  confident  belief  of  all  who  have  investigated 
the  subject,  that  the  time  is  at  hand  when  the  act- 
ual system  that  is  to  cover  the  Empire  with  its 
lace-work  of  steel  may  not  only  be  projected  on 
paper  but  be  actually  begun  in  practical  construc- 
tion. Matters  of  this  kind,  however,  move  slowly 
in  China.  Although  the  Northern  Railway  had 
proved  its  commercial  desirability  and  success,  it 
was  not  until  the  war  with  Japan  had  shown  the 
helplessness  of  the  country,  by  reason  of  the  entire 
lack  of  rapid  and  certain  means  of  communica- 
tion, that  measures  were  taken  looking  to  decisive 
action.  The  country  was  divided  into  two  sec- 
tions, called  North  and  South,  but  with  no  exact 
delimitations,  over  each  of  which  there  was  in- 
stalled an  official  with  the  title  of  Director-Gen- 
eral  of  Railways  ;  and  railways  were  talked  of  and 
projected  for  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land. 

Up  to  the  year  1896,  connection  between  Tien- 
tsin and  Peking,  a  distance  of  eighty  miles,  was 
maintained  either  by  junks  on  the  Pei  Ho  or  by 
ox-carts.  In  that  year,  however,  the  railway  be- 
tween these  two  places  was  begun,  and  completed 
in  May,  1897.  We  thus  have  a  line,  about  five 
hundred  miles  long,  running1  from  Peking  to  its 
port,  Tientsin,  and  thence  northeasterly  through 
the  Great  Wall,  which  is  owned  by  the  Gov- 
ernment and  was  constructed  by  it  under  the 
direction  of  Mr.  Kinder  and  through  the  instru- 


Chapter  IX  :   Railways  251 

mentality  of  English  banking  houses.  This  rail- 
way, which  owes  its  inception  to  the  ingenuity  and 
courage  of  Mr.  Kinder,  and  its  completion  to  its 
nearness  to  Peking,  whereby  its  benefits  were 
forced  upon  the  attention  of  the  imperial  authori- 
ties, has  been  the  pioneer  of  like  improvements  in 
China.  Considered  on  its  merits,  its  importance 
arises  from  its  connecting  the  capital  of  the  coun- 
try with  the  coast,  and  forming  the  highway 
between  China  and  the  Russian  Trans-Siberian 
Railway,  rather  than  from  its  being  a  great  factor 
in  local  development.  In  this  latter  respect  the 
Imperial  Railway  will  be  exceeded  by  other  lines. 

In  the  chapter  devoted  to  the  consideration  of 
commerce  and  trade  conditions,  the  importance 
of  the  four  great  points  of  distribution,  Tien-tsin, 
Shanghai,  Canton,  and  Hankow,  was  shown,  serv- 
ing respectively  the  northern,  central,  southern, 
and  interior  sections  of  the  Empire,  with  Shang- 
hai as  the  chief  port  of  original  entry.  The  com- 
mercial supremacv  of  these  points  is  irrevocably 
fixed  by  geographical  conditions,  and  necessarily 
the  lines  of  primary  importance  in  China's  future 
railway  system  will  be  those  connecting  them. 

As  it  happens,  the  four  places  are  about  equally 
distant  from  each  other,  say  seven  hundred  miles, 
except  that  Hankow  lies  midway  and  in  line  be- 
tween Canton  and  Tien-tsin.  In  the  past,  China 
has  been  able  to  carry  on  her  commerce  because 
these  four  cities  enjoyed  water  connections.     But 


252  An  American  Engineer  in  China 

modern  conditions  require  a  more  certain  and 
speedy  means  ot  communication.  Especially  is 
this  the  case  at  Tien-tsin,  where  the  port  is  closed 
bv  ice  for  nearly  one-third  of  every  year. 

Agitation  for  concessions  for  these  lines  fol- 
lowed closely  on  the  conclusion  of  the  Japanese 
War,  the  first  one  "ranted  being  awarded  in  1897 
to  a  Belgian  syndicate  for  the  construction  of  the 
link  between  Hankow  and  Peking,  or  rather  with 
a  junction  with  the  Tien-tsin-Peking  line  just  out- 
side of  the  capital,  and  this  was  followed  in  1898 
bv  a  like  concession  to  the  American  syndicate  for 
the  construction  of  the  section  joining  Hankow 
and  Canton.  These  two  railways  when  completed 
will  form  an  almost  direct  north  and  south  line, 
from  Canton,  the  great  southern  port,  to  Tien- 
tsin, the  northern  port,  and  Peking,  the  capital, 
through  Hankow,  the  metropolis  of  the  interior. 
Such  a  line  would  divide  the  Empire  proper  into 
about  equal  portions  east  and  west,  and  as  it  will 
cross  the  Yang-tze  River  at  the  head  of  large  ship 
navigation  at  a  point  midway  between  its  ter- 
minals, the  combined  railway  and  the  river  will 
approximately  quarter  the  Empire.  Moreover, 
these  two  railways,  considered  as  one,  will  con- 
stitute the  backbone  of  the  future  railway  system 
of  China.  Work  on  the  line  has  passed  the  stage 
of  beginning.  The  American  half  has  been  sur- 
veyed, and  construction  on  the  Belgian  section 
has  progressed  from  both  ends.     In  1896,  construe- 


Chapter  IX:   Railways  253 

lion,  at  that  time  under  the  direction  of  the 
Government,  was  begun  southerly  from  Peking, 
and  in  February,  1899,  had  reached  Pao-ting  Fu, 
a  distance  of  eight}-  miles.  This  section  shortly 
afterward  was  turned  over  to  the  Belgians  to 
operate,  who  have  since  extended  it  thirty  miles 
more,  and  built,  but  not  yet  commercially  oper- 
ated, twenty-five  miles  north  from  Hankow,  with 
other  construction  pending. 

In  the  meantime  the  reconstruction  of  the  de- 
stroyed Wu-sung  line  was  decided  upon.  The 
work  was  undertaken  by  Sheng  Ta-jen,  the  Direc- 
tor-General of  Imperial  Chinese  Railways  of  the 
South,  was  completed  during  1898,  and  put  under 
contract  to  be  turned  over  at  cost  to  an  English 
syndicate  when  so  required  by  the  latter. 

Of  what  I  have  above  mentioned  as  "  primary" 
lines  the  Canton-Hankow-Peking  connection  is 
provided  for.  On  two  of  the  others,  a  beginning 
has  been  made.  A  concession  has  been  awarded  to 
an  English  syndicate  for  a  railway  from  Shanghai 
to  Nan-king,  the  initial  step  toward  a  line  be- 
tween Shanghai  and  Hankow  ;  and  from  a  point 
on  the  Yang-tze,  opposite  Chin-kiang,  which  lat- 
ter will  be  on  the  Shanghai-Nan-king  Railway,  a 
concession  has  been  awarded  for  an  extension 
north  to  Tientsin,  thus  forming  the  Tien-tsin- 
Shanghai  connection.  This  latter  line,  whose 
length  is  about  seven  hundred  and  seventy  five 
miles,  is  divided   between   English  and    German 


254         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

interests,  the  latter  contracting  for  the  northern 
part  through  Shan-tung,  four  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  miles,  and  the  former  undertaking  the  balance 
between  Shan-tung  and  the  Yang-tze,  three  hun- 
dred miles.  The  remaining  primary  line,  that  be- 
tween Shanghai  and  Canton,  is  still  in  abeyance, 
and  this  will  be  slower  to  develop  than  the  others, 
as  it  is  paralleled  by  deep-sea  navigation,  and 
moreover  has  to  cross  the  successive  drainage 
lines  that  run  to  the  coast,  making  construction 
expensive.  Its  possibility  is  indicated  by  conces- 
sions for  the  terminal  ends  being  already  awarded 
to  a  British  syndicate  in  a  surveyed  route  from 
Shanghai  to  Ning-po  via  Hang-chow,  two  hun- 
dred miles,  and  in  another  project  from  Canton 
to  Kow-loon,  one  hundred  miles. 

Such  are  the  main  stems  either  under  actual 
construction  or  under  more  or  less  serious  con- 
sideration. Lines  of  secondary  importance  al- 
ready projected  are  numerous.  The  "  Peking 
Syndicate,"  an  Anglo-Italian  combination,  which 
controls  a  large  area  of  coal-fields  in  Shan-si  and 
Shen-si,  claims  railway  rights,  under  a  general 
clause  in  their  concession,  amounting  to  about  nine 
hundred  miles,  ramifying  through  the  provinces 
named,  connecting  with  the  Belgian  and  British 
lines  and  the  Yang-tze  in  order  to  bring  their 
coal  to  market.  On  these,  however,  nothing  has 
yet  been  done.  The  Germans  in  Shan-tung  are 
at  work  building  a  local  system  connecting  their 


Chapter  IX  :   Railways  255 

port  at  Kiao-chow,  while  the  French  in  Kwang-si 
and  Yun-nan  have  secured  concessions  aggregat- 
ing aboul  loin  hundred  miles,  to  extend  their  own 
Tong-king  railway  into  the  two  provinces  named. 
Of  these  latter  the  construction  of  the  line  from 
Lang-son  on  the  frontier  to  Nan-ning  Fu,  one 
hundred  miles,  is  now  in  hand. 

There  is  one  element  in  the  Chinese  railway 
situation,  however,  whose  importance  is  second  to 
no  other,  which  of  necessity  will  continue  to  be  a 
great  factor  in  the  future,  and  that  is  the  presence 
and  participation  of  the  Russians.  Their  inter- 
ests have  been  concentrated  in  the  construction  of 
the  Trans-Siberian  system,  the  obtaining  of  out- 
lets on  the  Pacific  coast  and  the  eventual  exten- 
sion of  its  rails  into  Chinese  territory.  To  these 
ends  there  has  been  no  wasting  or  scattering  of 
Russia's  forces  or  energies.  In  point  of  view  of 
money  spent  and  results  accomplished,  Russian 
attainments  vastly  exceed  those  of  all  the  other 
nations  combined,  but  it  is  often  somewhat  diffi- 
cult to  decide  whether  their  operations  are  on 
Chinese  or  Russian  soil.  The  line  to  Yladi- 
vostock  traverses  what  is  nominally  Chinese 
Manchuria,  for  1,000  miles,  while  the  branch 
known  as  the  Chinese  Eastern,  from  Kirin  to 
Port  Arthur  and  Ta-lien-wan.  strikes  north  and 
south  through  Manchuria,  which  is  still  consid- 
ered Chinese  territory,  but  where  Russian  influ- 
ence, through  the  Port  Arthur  lease,  is  being  im- 


256         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

pressed  on  the  people  gradually,  but  hoik-  the  less 
effectually.  This  line  will  have  a  length  ol  about 
four  hundred  miles,  of  which  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  miles  between  Port  Arthur  and  Niu- 
chwang  are  already  built.  In  addition,  Russia 
claims,  as  conceded,  branches  from  the  Belgian 
Hankow-Peking  line,  aggregating  four  hundred 
and  eighty  miles. 

The  figures  relating  to  concessions,  and  in  fact 
any  statements  in  regard  to  them,  are  necessarily 
vague  and  uncertain  and  constantly  subject  to 
change.  But  few  actual  surveys  have  been  made 
and  the  maximum  mileage  in  each  case  is  usually 
claimed.  On  the  other  hand,  the  terms  of  the  con- 
cessions are  guarded  as  closely  as  possible,  so 
that  it  is  difficult  to  ascertain  what  has  been  act- 
ually granted.  Some  so-called  concessions  may 
not  have  been  finally  executed,  while  perhaps, 
although  not  likely  to  be  the  case,  there  are  others 
in  existence  which  have  not  been  made  known. 

Summarizing  the  figures,  such  as  they  are,  we 
find  the  present  status  of  Chinese  railways  to  be 
about  as  follows  : 

Constructed ' :  Miles. 

Chinese  Government  system 534 

Belgian  concession 135 

British  concession 10 

German  Shan-tung  concession 10 

Russian  Manchurian  lines 125 

Total 814 


Chapter  IX  :   Railways  257 

/  Tnder  construction  : 

Miles. 

Belgian  concession 55 

French  concession  100 

German  concession   96 

Russian  Manchurian  lines  375 

Chinese,  part  of  American  concession 10 

Total 636 


Concessions  granted  to  foreigners,  including  the  abcroe : 

Miles. 

British,  including  Peking  syndicate 2.000 

American 900 

Russian,  excluding   1,000  miles  of  Siberian 

railway 880 

German 800 

Belgian 700 

French 400 

Total  conceded 5,680 

We  have  thus  in  China,  including  the  Russian 
branch  in  Manchuria,  only  about  eight  hundred 
miles  of  railway  serving  a  country  whose  area  is 
nearly  half  as  large  as  that  of  the  United  States, 
and  whose  population  is  said  to  be  400,000,000. 
Lines  aggregating  20,000  miles  could  well  be  built 
during  the  next  ten  years  with  profit. 

For  the  construction  ol  these  and  other  lines 
recourse  must  be  had  to  foreign  capital,  aided  by 
the  Chinese  Government.  Although  the  Chinese 
Government  itself,  under  English  advice  and  fi- 
nancial assistance,  has  been  able  to  construct  and 


258         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

successfully  operate  over  five  hundred  miles  in 
and  about  the  "  metropolitan  district,"  the  task 
of  constructing  and  organizing  the  great  system 
that  is  already  so  imperatively  needed  is  one  from 
which  any  government  might  well  shrink,  espe- 
cially one  so  conservative  and  opposed  to  innova- 
tion as  that  of  China.  On  the  other  hand,  while 
there  is  a  large  amount  of  private  wealth  in  China, 
native  capitalists  have  not  been  instructed  in  the 
idea  of  combining  in  large  joint-stock  companies, 
and  therefore  the  initiative  must  devolve  on  the 
foreigner. 

The  concessions  referred  to  are  a  means  to  over- 
come these  difficulties,  permitting  the  Govern- 
ment to  give,  which  they  began  to  do  in  1897,  to 
foreigners  the  right  to  construct  and  operate  rail- 
ways. These  concessions  clearly  state,  however, 
that  the  title  to  the  property  thus  to  be  created 
remains  in  the  Government  (according  to  Chinese 
theory,  the  Emperor  is  the  owner  of  all  things), 
and  that  the  money  required  for  construction  is 
to  be  advanced  by  the  foreigner  as  a  loan.  In 
order  that  the  latter  may  recoup  himself  for  this 
loan,  he  receives  bonds  guaranteed,  both  as  to  prin- 
cipal and  interest,  by  the  Government,  bearing 
five  per  cent,  interest,  payable  in  the  current  gold 
coin  of  the  foreigner's  country.  These  bonds  are 
issued  at  such  a  reasonable  discount  as  to  pay 
the  expense  of  making  the  issue  to  the  investing 
public,  and  limited  to  such  an  amount  as  is  neces- 


Chapter  IX  :   Railways  259 

sary  to  pay  only  the  legitimate  cost  of  construc- 
tion, so  that  the  purchasers  of  the  bonds  receive  a 
security  based  on  positive  value  and  without  the 
usual  "  watering."  The  time  oi  the  loan  varies 
with  each  concession,  but  is  usually  between  forty 
and  fifty  years.  During-  this  time  the  control  of 
the  property,  so  far  as  financial  matters  are  con- 
cerned, is  vested  absolutely  in  the  foreigner's 
hands,  and,  so  far  as  local  matters  are  concerned, 
in  a  board  in  which  the  foreign  element  and  in- 
fluence predominate.  To  pay  the  foreigner  for 
his  labor  he  is  entitled  to  receive  a  certain  propor- 
tion, usually  twenty  per  cent.,  of  the  net  earnings, 
if  any,  after  meeting  operating  expenses  and  in- 
terest. The  bonds  are  redeemable  at  a  price  fixed 
in  the  contract  of  concession,  so  that,  in  the  event 
of  the  credit  of  the  Chinese  Government  improv- 
ing, the  first  issue  may  be  refunded  at  a  lower 
rate.  At  the  end  of  the  fixed  period  and  on  re- 
payment of  the  loan  the  foreigner's  interest  will 
cease  entirely,  and  the  Chinese  are  to  take  over 
the  management.  Other  provisions  require  the 
foreigner  to  maintain  a  school  of  instruction  ;  to 
consider  Chinese  on  an  equal  footing  with  for- 
eigners for  appointment  ;  to  permit  natives  to  in- 
vest in  the  securities;  to  transport  Government 
troops  and  munitions  of  war  at  halt  rates  ;  and, 
in  the  event  of  war  between  China  and  another 
power,  not  to  give  aid  to  the  enemy.  On  the 
other   hand,  the  full  power  of  the  Government  is 


260         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

pledged,  in  addition  to  its  financial  guarantee,  to 
protect  the  foreigner  in  the  full  and  unrestricted 
right,  according  to  the  terms  of  the  concession,  to 
use  and  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  labors. 

This  combination,  wherein  there  is  secured,  on 
the  one  hand,  the  knowledge,  experience,  and 
financial  assistance  of  the  foreigner,  and,  on  the 
other,  the  support,  both  moral  and  actual,  of  the 
Government,  when  a  permanent  one  is  established, 
is  a  most  happy  one.  It  assures  security  to  the 
investor,  and  obtains  for  China  not  only  the  pos- 
sibility of  rapid  development,  but  the  eventual  re- 
turn to  the  hands  of  her  own  people  of  the  prop- 
erties which  her  credit  in  the  first  instance  created. 
As  the  Government  liability  is  limited  to  five 
per  cent,  on  the  actual  cost,  it  is  not  expected 
that  it  will  be  called  on  for  any  payment,  as  each 
railway  should  earn  net,  above  operating  expenses, 
at  least  that  return. 

The  danger  in  the  method  lies  in  that,  owing  to 
the  fact  that  the  securities  issued  for  the  construc- 
tion of  railways  are  guaranteed  by  the  Govern- 
ment, promoters  will  not  consider  sufficiently  well 
the  earning  power  of  the  lines  they  project  and 
will  build  lines  either  not  immediately  needed  or 
more  rapidly  than  local  trade  conditions  can  as- 
similate, and  so  place  on  the  Government  a  yearly 
burden  of  interest  in  excess  of  the  net  returns. 
This  risk  must  be  guarded  against  by  patriotic 
and  wise  care  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese  officials, 


Chapter  IX  :   Railways  261 

and  by  cautious  and  conservative  investigation  on 
the  part  of  the  foreign  projectors. 

The  political  aspect  of  the  situation  is  unique, 
since  we  see  established  on  the  soil  of  another 
country  the  people  of  six  different  foreign  na- 
tions, with  rights  and  privileges  granted  and  guar- 
anteed by  the  local  Government,  a  situation  which 
may  contain  the  germs  of  future  complications. 
Looking  at  it  from  the  strategical  point  of  view, 
we  see  the  control  of  all  the  country  north  of 
the  Chinese  province  of  Chi-li  absolutely  in  Rus- 
sian hands.  South  from  Tien-tsin,  German  inter- 
ests are  paramount,  while  between  these  and  the 
Russians  there  stands  the  Imperial  Chinese  Rail- 
way system  as  a  buffer.  The  land  approaches 
to  Shanghai  from  the  north,  west,  and  south 
have  been  secured  by  the  English.  Hankow,  as 
respects  the  north  and  east,  is  under  the  Belgian 
domination.  The  American  concession  secures 
the  approaches  to  Hankow  from  the  west  and 
south,  and  to  Canton  from  the  west  and  north,  that 
is  to  say,  it  controls  the  southwestern  quarter  of 
the  Empire.  On  the  other  hand,  the  French  have 
established  themselves  in  the  south  and  south- 
west, while  the  Japanese  are  understood  to  have 
eyes  on  the  coast  opposite  Formosa. 

Some  of  the  railway  projects  in  China  have 
been  prompted  undoubtedly  much  more  by  for- 
eign politics  than  by  commercial  motives.  As  long 
as  other  nations  have  a  foothold  on  Chinese  ter- 


262         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

ritorv  under  the  thin  guise  of  "leases,"  and  either 
claim  to  have  a  voice  in  the  administration  of 
local  affairs  through  "spheres  of  influence"  or 
are  possessed  with  the  fear  that  their  rivals  may  in 
some  way  secure  special  favors,  the  various  Eu- 
ropean powers  will  endeavor  to  put  themselves 
in  advantageous  positions,  either  to  seize  terri- 
tory in  the  event  of  a  break-up,  or  to  prevent 
others  from  doing  so.  There  exists  a  general 
belief  in  China,  which  repeated  authoritative  de- 
nials seem,  curiously  enough,  to  strengthen,  that 
Russian  influence  was  behind  the  Belgian  syndi- 
cate in  procuring  the  railroad  concession  from 
Peking  to  Hankow,  the  theory  being  that  Rus- 
sia's design  is  either  to  form,  ultimately,  a 
through  line  from  St.  Petersburg  to  the  Yang- 
tze River,  or  to  have  something  ready  to  offer  in 
trade  for  other  concessions  in  the  north  of  more 
immediate  benefit,  to  herself  and  of  less  threaten- 
ing aspect  to  Great  Britain.  Whether  true  or 
not,  this  supposed  Russian  "move"  was  immedi- 
ately met  by  the  British  Government  despatch- 
ing two  parties  to  China  under  the  charge  of 
army  officers  to  prospect  for  a  route  for  a  rail- 
way controlling  the  Yang-tze  Valley,  usually  con- 
sidered as  Great  Britain's  "sphere,"  and  connect- 
ing with  the  Burma  system.  One  of  the  lines 
projected  follows  up  the  Yang-tze  from  Hankow 
to  Chung-king,  and  thence  to  Burma.  The  other 
runs  across  the  northwest  eorner  of  Hu-nan,  and 


Chapter  IX  :   Railways  263 

through  Yun-nan,  bv  a  more  direct  route,  to  the 
same  objective.  They  would  have  a  length  of 
about  1,700  and  1,550  miles  respectively.  They 
coidd  be  supported  onlv  as  a  political  necessity, 
for  while  a  part  of  each  would  traverse  a  rich, 
productive  and  remunerative  territory,  neither 
as  a  whole  would  be  profitable  for  many  years. 
The  other  nations  that  have  political  interests  at 
stake  are  German v,  who  appears  to  be  content 
to  develop  the  resources  of  Shan-tung  as  a  local 
venture,  and  France,  who,  branching"  out  from 
her  Anam  and  Tong-king  possessions,  is  desirous 
somehow  to  reach  across  the  Empire  and  clasp 
hands  with  her  Muscovite  ally  in  the  north.  No 
sadder  thing  could  happen,  not  only  for  China, 
but  for  the  world  at  large,  than  to  have  some  such 
scheme  of  interference  or  European  division  be- 
come a  reality. 

Two  questions,  each  of  vital  importance,  present 
themselves  in  connection  with  possible  railway 
development.  Firstly,  will  the  Chinese  permit 
their  construction,  or  will  the  national  antipathy 
to  innovation  and  superstitious  fear  of  violation 
of  ancestral  tombs  prevent  the  introduction  of  so 
revolutionary  a  thing  as  a  railway?  Secondly,  if 
constructed,  will  railways  pay  ? 

The  principal  opposition  to  railway  construction 
in  China  has  come  largely,  I  believe,  from  the  of- 
ficial class,  which  has  realized  quite  well  that  on 
the  introduction  of  modern  means  of  communica- 


264         An  American  Engineer  in  China 


tion,  and  the  general  enlightenment  of  the  country 
that  would  inevitably  follow,  its  power  would  be 
broken  and  its  prerogatives  greatly  reduced.  Of 
course,  there  exists  among  the  people  a  strong 
prejudice  against  any  innovation,  but  this  preju- 
dice can  be,  and  is,  easily  overcome  wherever 
the  innovation  has  official  support  and  encour- 
agement. The  general  popular  opposition  to  rail- 
ways in  China  is  double,  being  partly  religious  and 
partly  through  fear  of  competition  against  manual 
labor.  Being  ignorant,  the  common  people  are 
naturally  superstitious,  and  every  district  has  its 
sacred  hill  or  its  holy  river  wherein  resides  the 
spirit  of  the  local  protecting  deity,  which,  if  in- 
terfered with,  dreadful  disaster  will  result.  An 
amusing  instance  concerns  an  island  in  the  interior 
on  which  it  was  necessarv  to  make  some  excava- 
tion in  the  course  of  railway  work.  At  once  the 
literar}'  gentry  were  up  in  arms,  explaining  that 
the  island  was  really  a  fish  who  kindly  kept  watch 
over  the  adjacent  city,  and  that  if  an  excavation 
were  made  the  fish's  backbone  would  be  cut  and 
he  would  die.  Such  is  one  form  of  popular  and 
superstitious  opposition.  Another  formidable 
obstacle  is  found  in  connection  with  the  graves  of 
ancestors,  which  are  the  most  important  outward 
evidence  of  Chinese  religion.  Unfortunately,  these 
graves  are  not  placed  in  regular  cemeteries  but 
are  scattered  more  or  less  broadcast  over  the  sur- 
face of  the  country,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  run 


Chapter  IX  :   Railways  265 

a  railway  line  without  frequently  interfering  with 
them.  At  first  this  objection  seemed  fatal,  and 
the  earh'cr  lines  were  given  an  alignment  thai 
would  prove  seriously  detrimental  to  impor- 
tant railways.  When  the  matter  became  acute  in 
the  construction  of  the  Imperial  Railway  in  the 
north,  the  question  was  taken  up  for  settlement 
on  a  business  basis,  and  eight  taels  was  reached 
as  a  sort  of  tariff  to  compensate  the  resident  for 
the  disturbance  of  each  dead  ancestor  and  to  pay 
for  the  removal  of  the  latter  to  a  new  resting- 
place.  Experience  has  shown  that  this  charge 
was  somewhat  in  excess  of  actual  cost,  for  not 
only  has  opposition  practically  ceased,  but  a  new 
business  has  sprung  up.  It  is  found  that  if  the 
natives  learn  in  advance  of  the  location  of  a  new 
line,  that  the  more  enterprising  among  them,  it 
so  unfortunate  as  not  to  have  a  family  burying- 
gronnd  in  the  way,  will  borrow  from  their  neigh- 
bors the  temporary  loan  of  a  few  grandfathers 
whom  they  will  quietly  re-bury  in  advance  of  the 
work.  The  charge  of  eight  taels  seems  sufficient 
to  pay  the  expense  of  the  double  handling,  with  a 
commission  to  the  owner  of  the  ancestor,  and  yet 
leave  an  attractive  profit  to  the  borrower. 

A  more  reasonable  objection  to  the  building 
of  railways  is  the  fear  that  the  coolies,  who  now 
carry  their  goods  and  produce  over  their  poor 
highways  on  their  backs,  one  hundred  pounds  at 
a  load,  or  the  junkmen  who  now  take  weeks  or 


266  An  American  Engineer  in  China 

perhaps  months  to  move  a  cargo  of  American 
kerosene  a  few  hundred  miles,  will  be  deprived 
of  their  means  of  support  and  existence.  This 
was  urged  to  me  by  intelligent  local  officials  and 
merchants,  who  appeared  genuinely  desirous  to 
know  what  a  railroad  was  and  what  its  effects 
would  be.  When  it  was  explained  to  them  that 
similar  fears  had  been  found  to  be  groundless  in 
other  countries,  and  that  railways,  instead  of  de- 
creasing, gave  increased  employment  at  higher 
wages  bv  diversifying  and  developing  new  means 
of  trade,  the  local  merchants  and  land-owners 
almost  without  exception  seemed  satisfied  and 
urged  my  speedy  return.  The  native  prejudices, 
although  strong,  are  not  by  any  means  insuper- 
able, and  can  be  conquered  by  tact,  firmness,  and 
money. 

In  order  to  give  an  answer  to  the  second  ques- 
tion, that  is,  as  to  whether  the  financial  returns  will 
pay  a  sufficient  profit  on  the  investment — for  it 
must  be  remembered  that  the  Chinese  natives  are 
very  poor  and  apparently  have  no  money  for 
travelling — let  us  first  turn  to  China's  more  ad- 
vanced neighbors  and  see  what  they  have  done 
with  their  railways. 

On  one  side  we  have  India  and  on  the  other 
Japan.  While  the  Hindus  and  Japanese  are  races 
different  from  each  other  and  from  the  Chinese, 
the  differences  are  not  so  great  as  to  destroy  the 
usefulness  of  the  comparison.   They  are  all  Eastern 


Chapter  IX  :   Railways  267 

Asiatics,  with  many  institutions — and  even  relig- 
ions in  part — in  common  ;  their  countries  have 
dense  populations,  while  they  themselves  possess 
a  natural  disinclination  to  change  established  ways, 
a  strong  and  almost  bigoted  desire  for  hand-labor 
methods,  and  a  more  or  less  deep  suspicion  of  for- 
eign ideas. 

The  Indian  system  of  railways  is  of  main  years' 
growth,  and  has  now  attained  a  length  of  25,000 
miles.  It  may  be  urged  that  this  gets  its  strength, 
and  therefore  has  reached  its  development, 
through  British,  and  not  native,  sources,  and  con- 
sequently is  not  a  lair  guide  for  comparison  with 
proposed  railways  in  other  Eastern  countries.  It 
is,  of  course,  true  that  the  original  incentive  and 
the  power  of  promotion  was  of  foreign  origin; 
but  it  is  equally  true  that,  unless  the  great  mass 
of  people  in  the  locality  concerned  will  patronize 
the  newer  systems  of  transportation — no  matter 
how  energetically  promoted  and  extolled  —  the 
latter  will  not  be  profitable,  and  if  the  first  lines 
do  not  pay,  no  subsequent  ones  will  be  built.  The 
Indian  system  does  pay,  in  spite  of  very  heavy 
cost  in  construction,  and  pays  chief!}'  through  the 
receipts  from  those  classes  who  usually  are  not 
supposed  to  have  the  means  at  hand.  The  receipts 
of  the  whole  Indian  system  amount  to  $4,000  gold 
per  mile,  while  the  receipts  of  the  "standard- 
gauge"  portion  are  more  than  $5000  per  mile, 
with    the  chief  lines   showimr  results  as   high   as 


Chapter  IX  :   Railways  269 

$11,000  gold,  which  may  be  contrasted  with  an 
average  of  $6,000  per  mile  for  the  railways  in  the 
United  States.  These  figures,  too,  are  obtained 
in  a  country  where  the  natives  are  as  poor  as  any 
to  be  found  on  the  .Asiatic  continent,  and  where  a 
heavy  mineral  traffic,  such  as  that  in  coal,  is  not 
obtainable,  as  it  is  in  the  more  favored  Eastern 
countries. 

The  Japanese  railway  system,  however,  is  quite 
free  from  the  objection  that  may  be  brought 
against  the  Indian  railways  as  standards  of  com- 
parison, because  here  we  have  all  the  usual  ori- 
ental conditions  without  foreign  pressure,  except 
perhaps  in  the  case  of  such  foreign  engineers  or 
others  as  may  have  been  retained  from  time  to 
time  for  advice.  Hence,  in  the  Japanese  system 
we  find  an  example  by  which  we  can  judge  of  the 
possibilities  of  development  as  to  the  capacity  of 
the  Eastern  Asiatic  not  only  to  adapt  himself  to 
new  conditions,  but  to  take  up  the  construction 
and  management  of  so  essentially  an  occidental 
idea  as  a  railway,  and  also  of  his  own  initiative  to 
suggest,  promote,  and  carry  out  new  lines. 

The  case  of  Japan  is  peculiar.  Prior  to  the  visit 
of  Commodore  Perry,  in  1853,  it  was  a  country 
practically  closed  to  the  outside  world,  and  was 
therefore  far  behind  its  neighbor,  China,  which 
had  been  carrying  on  trade  with  foreign  nations 
for  oyer  three  hundred  years.  In  1X70  there  was 
undertaken  the  construction  ol  a  line  from  Tokyo, 


Chapter  IX  :   Railways  271 

the  capital,  to  Yokohama,  the  chief  port,  a  dis- 
tance of  eighteen  miles,  whose  operation  was  be- 
gun in  1872.  In  1893  the  system  had  grown  to 
1,871  miles,  and  at  the  present  time  there  are  in 
actual  operation  about  4,000  miles. 

These  railways  are  of  three  kinds:  first,  the 
Government  line,  which  constitutes  the  main  stem, 
from  Tokyo  westerly  along  the  coast  through  the 
great  centres  of  trade  and  population,  Yokohama, 
Kyoto,  Osaka,  and  Kobe;  second,  private  lines, 
built  with  the  aid  of  a  Government  subsidy  ; 
third,  private  lines,  without  Government  aid.  Of 
the  existing  mileage,  about  nine  hundred  miles 
belong  to  the  Government  and  3,100  miles  to 
private  companies,  of  which  the  most  important 
is  the  Nippon  Railway  Company,  whose  lines  run 
east  and  northeast  from  Tokyo.  The  early  Japa- 
nese lines  were  built  by  foreign,  usually  English, 
engineers  and  operated  by  foreign  managers. 
But  nearly  all  the  foreigners  have  since  been  re- 
placed by  Japanese  officials,  and  no  new  ones  are 
engaged,  the  natives  having  amply  demonstrated 
their  ability  to  do  all  the  work  of  planning,  con- 
structing, and  operating. 

The  principal  lines  are  double-tracked.  Such 
single  lines  as  exist  are  operated  according  to  the 
English  system  of  the  train  staff;  and  as  the  cn- 
ginemen  are  natives,  at  wages  averaging  $12  per 
month,  some  such  mechanical  method,  instead  of 
the  American  system  o!  telegraph  despatching,  is 


Chapter  IX  :   Railways  273 

a  necessity.  The  track  is  of  the  American  type, 
with  flat-footed  rails  on  wooden  cross-ties  and 
stone  ballast.  The  rolling  stock  is  of  the  Eu- 
ropean design,  with  cross  compartments  in  the 
passenger  cars  and  freight  equipment  of  the 
"truck"  order.  The  locomotives,  on  the  other 
hand,  are  both  European  and  American.  In  or- 
der to  suit  the  passenger  cars  the  stations  have 
high  platforms,  and  the  buildings,  though  simple 
in  design,  are  effective  and  usually  models  of 
neatness.  Passengers  are  not  admitted  to  the 
platform  except  with  tickets,  and  are  not  allowed 
to  cross  the  tracks  except  by  an  overhead  bridge. 
The  train  schedules  are  generous  in  regard  to 
frequency  of  trains,  and  call  for  speeds  of  from 
twenty  to  thirty  miles  per  hour.  Trains  are 
usually  on  time. 

The  results  of  operation  are  in  every  way  satis- 
factory, and  are  sufficient  to  completely  dispel 
any  fear  that  the  Oriental  races  will  fail  to  appre- 
ciate modern  conditions  when  they  have  become 
used  to  them  ;  for  it  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  it 
is  only  within  the  last  lew  years  that  Japan  has 
attained  commercial  prominence,  and  that  it  was 
but  a  short  time  since  she  occupied  a  position  in- 
ferior to  other  Asiatic  peoples.  The  Government 
lines  earn  per  mile  per  annum  about  $8,000  gross, 
while  the  private  lines,  many  oi  which  are  located 
in  the  sparsely  settled  and  mountainous  districts, 
succeed  in  averaging  $3,500;   but,  owing  to  the 


CD 


a. 

h 


Chapter  IX  :  Railways  275 

low  cost  of  labor,  the  ratio  of  operating  expenses 
is  much  less  than  is  found  in  the  United  States, 
ranging  from  forty  per  cent,  to  fifty  per  cent., 
thus  giving  a  higher  net  return  than  is  usual  with 
equal  gross  receipts  on  railways  in  the  United 
States. 

Japan  being  insular,  the  railways  there  are  sub- 
ject to  junk  and  steamer  competition,  and  as  the 
Japanese  coal-mines  are  located  on  the  sea,  such 
traffic  is  almost  exclusively  water-borne.  The  for- 
mer condition  deprives  the  railways  of  through 
freight,  and  the  latter  of  coal  and  similar  classes 
ol  heavy  goods,  except  to  interior  points.  To 
American  eves  the  anomaly  in  the  returns  is  the 
fad  that  passenger  receipts  exceed  those  from 
freight,  the  ratio  of  earnings  on  the  Government 
lines  being  about  as  three  to  one,  although  on  the 
private  lines,  where  the  population  is  much  less 
dense,  there  is  a  nearer  approach  to  equality. 
The  same  state  of  affairs  is  found  to  exist  on  the 
Indian  system  and  on  the  Imperial  Chinese  Rail- 
way so  far  as  it  is  built,  thus  indicating  the  ex- 
istence of  similar  conditions  of  life  throughout 
all  the  Far  East.  Contrary,  therefore,  to  the  or- 
dinarily accepted  belief,  the  Oriental  is  by  nature 
a  traveller  when  he  gets  the  opportunity:  and  the 
extent  to  which  he  will  travel  is  enormous.  On 
the  660  miles  of  Government  lines  in  Japan, 
there  were  carried  in  the  year  1898  no  fewer 
than  28,000,000  passengers,  an  average  per  mile 


j;0 


An  American  Engineer  in  China 


o!  42,000.  The  average  number  of  passengers 
per  mile  of  railway  in  the  United  States  is  about 
3,000.  Taking  a  more  striking  comparison,  the 
whole  Japanese  system,  Government  and  private, 


Passengers  Getting  on  a  Train  in  China 

in  1S98  aggregating  2,468  miles,  carried  84,040,963 
passengers,  while  the  New  York  Central  Railroad, 
in  the  same  year,  with  2,395  miles — or  almost  ex- 
actly the  same  length  of  line — carried  24,074,254 
passengers,  the  relative  density  in  favor  of  the 
Japanese  being  thus  more  than  three  to  one;  and 


Chapter  IX  :   Railways  277 

this  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  New  York  Central 
had  the  benefit  of  including  among  its  passengers 
all  the  traffic  received  from  Western,  New  Eng- 
land, and  other  connecting  lines.  Even  when 
making  a  comparison  as  to  passenger  mileage, 
the  volume  of  business  is  found  to  be  in  favor  ol 
the  Japanese  system  in  the  proportion  of  two  to 
one,  the  passengers  carried  one  mile  being  in  one 
case  1,438,014,632,  and  in  the  other  712,115,222. 

Nor  are  the  rates  of  fare  at  which  this  business 
is  done  so  very  low  ;  in  fact,  some  of  the  charges 
are  high  enough  to  excite  the  envy  of  the  ordi- 
nary American  traffic  manager.  In  India  there 
are  lour  classes  of  passenger  accommodation,  the 
rates  per  mile  ranging  from  0.3  cent  to  2.4  cents 
gold.  In  Japan  there  are  three  classes,  the 
charges  being  0.7  cent  for  the  third  class,  1.4 
cent  for  the  second,  and  2.1  cents  lor  the  first. 
These  last  rates,  adopted  one  year  ago,  are  an  in- 
crease of  one-third  over  the  previous  figures,  it 
being  found  that  the  natives  demanded  better 
facilities  and  were  willing  to  pay  for  them.  On 
the  Chinese  Imperial  Railway  the  rates  are  1*4 
cents  for  first-class  and  ^  cent  second-class,  at 
which  prices,  considering  the  shortness  of  the 
line,  an  enormous  business  is  done.  Although 
the  rates  for  the  lower  classes  seem  low,  it  is  to 
be  remembered  that  the  accommodations  offered 
are  of  the  simplest  and  cheapest  character,  pas- 
sengers in  China  being  transported  in  open  gon- 


Chapter  IX  :   Railways  279 


dola  cars.  The  charges  for  first-class  travel  in  all 
the  countries  referred  to  are  seen  to  compare  fa- 
vorably with  American  charges,  again  bearing 
in  mind  thai  the  heavy,  expensively  decorated 
American  coach  is  unknown  in  the  East.  But 
freight  rates  are  proportionately  higher,  the  larger 
charges  being  rendered  possible  by  competition 
with  man-carried  transportation,  in  which  neces- 
sarily the  cost  is  great,  even  in  spite  of  the  very 
low  wages  paid.  In  India  the  freight  tariff  per 
ton  per  mile  ranges  from  1.6  to  5.5  cents;  in  Japan 
on  ordinary  goods  from  1  to  2  cents  with  reduc- 
tions for  huge  consignments,  and  in  China  from 
1.2  to  2.25  cents.  In  1898  the  average  charge  per 
ton  per  mile  on  the  whole  Japanese  system  was  1 
cent,  as  compared  with  0.6  cent  on  the  New  York 
Central. 

It  would  appear  from  these  figures  that  two  pop- 
ular beliefs  in  regard  to  traffic  conditions  in  the 
Far  East  are  fallacious;  viz.,  that  the  natives  are 
too  poor  to  afford  to  pay  for  modern  facilities,  and 
that  they  will  not  travel  freely.  The  facts  are 
otherwise.  Their  poverty  is  partly  due  to  the 
high  charges  the  deficient  native  methods  inflict, 
which  prevent  any  movements  except  those  of 
great  inherent  profit  which  can  afford  the  traffic 
expenses  while  in  the  interior  of  any  of  the 
countries  here  concerned  none  but  the  rich  can 
gratify  their  desire  to  travel.  Where  the  onlv 
facility  afforded  to  the  poor  man  is  to  walk,  it  be- 


280         An  American  Engineer  in  China 


comes  a  condition  as  fatal  to  general  movement  in 
China  as  it  would  be  in  any  other  country.  As  a 
simple  example  ol  what  the  Chinese  will  do  when 
they  have  the  opportunity,  the  reports  of  the 
Canton  Customs  Office  show  that  the  steamers 
between  Hongkong  and  Canton  earn-  annually 
nearly  1,000,000  passengers,  a  daily  average  of 
2,500,  in  addition  to  a  large  but  cheaper  travel 
by  native  junk,  of  which  no  record  is  kept. 

The  electric  trolley  car  is  a  form  of  railway  de- 
velopment which  as  yet  has  made  but  little  head- 
way, but  which  is  certain  to  attain  great  success, 
being  peculiarly  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  Chinese 
on  account  of  the  density  of  population,  and  the 
inherent  tendency  of  the  natives  to  prefer  short 
journeys,  and  journeys  made  at  all  hours,  rather 
than  at  fixed  intervals  on  a  regular  schedule. 
The  electric  tram-way  has  recently  secured  a  foot- 
hold in  Japan,  in  Siam,  and  in  a  few  other  isolated 
points;  a  few  years  hence  will  see  its  general  use. 

One  curious  and  unfortunate  feature  in  connec- 
tion with  Asiatic  railways  is  the  diversity  of 
gauges,  with  the  entailed  certainty  of  all  the  in- 
conveniences, delays,  and  unnecessary  expenses 
that  were  experienced  in  the  United  States  until 
a  uniform  gauge  was  at  last  adopted.  The  gauge 
of  the  Japanese  system  is  3  feet  6  inches,  which  is 
found  to  be  inconveniently  small  ;  but  as  all  the 
lines  are  alike,  and  as  no  outside  connections  are 
possible,  it  is  not  likely  that  any  change  will  be 


Chapter  IX  :    Railways  281 

made — at  least,  not  for  a  long  time.  On  the  Con- 
tinent the  conditions  are  more  complicated,  and 
such  that  some  day  will  certainly  give  trouble. 
The  Russian  Trans-Siberian  Railway,  and  the  Chi- 
nese Eastern  Railway  (  which  is  t  he  extension  of  the 
former  through  Manchuria,  still  nominally  Chi- 
nese territory)  to  Port  Arthur  and  to  a  connection 
with  the  Imperial  Chinese  Railway,  has  a  gauge 
of  5  leet,  in  accordance  with  Russian  standards. 
The  Indian  railways,  on  the  other  hand,  have  an 
assortment  of  gauges,  one  ol  5  feet  6  inches,  mis- 
called the  "standard  gauge,"  being  used  on  the 
principal  lines  to  the  extent  of  about  14,000  miles. 
Again,  a  gauge  of  1  metre  is  in  force  on  over  10,000 
miles,  while  odd  gauges  of  2  feet  and  2  feet  6 
inches  are  found  on  a  number  of  short  lines,  aggre- 
gating,  however,  nearly  1,000  miles.  The  Chinese 
authorities  on  the  Imperial  svstem  in  the  north,  and 
on  the  Shanghai-Wu-sung  line,  have  adopted  the 
European  and  American  standard  of  4  feet  8^ 
inches;  and  as  the  same  dimension  is  being  fol- 
lowed by  the  Belgians  on  their  Hankow- Peking 
line,  and  will  be  used  on  the  English  and  Ameri- 
can concessions,  a  standard  is  thus  formed  that 
will  ultimately  dominate  the  Empire,  and  which 
in  the  end  the  exigencies  of  traffic  will  compel 
the  Russian  and  Indian  railways  to  adopt. 

The  time  will  come,  and  perhaps  at  no  very  dis- 
tant day,  when  it  will  be  possible  tor  a  traveller 
starting,  we  may  say,  from  Paris,  to  traverse  North 


u 


If) 


Chapter  IX  :   Railways  283 

Europe  by  way  of  Berlin  and  Moscow  ;  and  to 
proceed  thence  through  Siberia;  south  to  Peking 
and  China;  across  India,  Persia,  and  Asia  Minor; 
by  car-ferry  over  the  Bosphorus  ;  and  thence 
through  Austria  and  the  Tyrol  back  to  his  start- 
ing point,  without  changing  cars. 

In  style  of  construction  the  Chinese  railways 
are  a  compromise  between  European  and  Ameri- 
can lines.  They  are  all  single-track  lines,  except 
the  division  between  Tien-tsin  and  Peking.  The 
track  is  of  the  American  type  ;  the  locomotives 
are  partly  American  and  partly  English  ;  and  the 
cars,  both  passenger  and  freight,  are  an  adapta- 
tion of  both  the  American  and  English  patterns, 
made  to  conform  with  local  conditions,  and  in 
their  construction  to  come  within  the  facilities  of 
local  shops,  for  all  the  rolling  stock,  except  the 
engines,  is  home-made. 

As  a  field  for  the  future,  China  stands  pre- 
eminent on  account  ol  its  size,  its  population,  and 
its  well-known  but  undeveloped  mineral  wealth, 
and  offers  chances  and  opportunities  that  are  to 
be  found  nowhere  else  in  the  Orient. 

The  Japanese,  in  his  essentials,  does  not  differ 
radically  from  other  Eastern  Asiatic  races.  Start- 
ing from  a  point  much  inferior  in  the  way  of  com- 
mercial development  to  that  attained  by  the  Chi- 
nese, he  has  built  up,  the  greater  part  by  his  own 
individual  and  unassisted  efforts,  a  railway  system 
that  can  take  rank  with  the  railways  of  any  other 


Chapter  IX  :   Railways  285 

country.  What  he  has  done  the  Chinese  can  do, 
and  will  do,  especially  seeing  that  the  conditions 
for  success  on  the  mainland,  with  possibilities  for 
through  traffic  and  vast  mineral  deposits  await- 
ing rail  transportation  outward,  exceed  those  of 
insular  Japan. 


Chapter 

X 

The    Yellow    Peril 


THERE  arc  two  questions  in  regard  to 
China  thai  are  frequently  raised,  which 
merit  attention  on  account  of  their  being 
supported  by  a  belief  that  appears  to  be  quite 
wide-spread.  One  is  whether  it  is  not  dangerous 
commercially  to  supply  the  Chinese  with  facto- 
ries, mills,  railways  and  other  modern  means  of 
constructing,  by  means  of  which,  operated  by 
their  cheap  labor,  they  will  be  able  to  flood  the 
world  with  articles  at  a  price  lower  than  they 
can  be  manufactured  elsewhere,  and  thus  close 
our  own  factories,  or  compel  our  laborers  to 
work  for  less  pay.  The  other  question  is  whether 
it  is  not  dangerous  politically  to  teach  the  Chi- 
nese modern  methods,  lest  the}'  will  devote  their 
energies  to  making  arms  and  ammunition  and 
overrun  the  world  as  Genghis  Khan  did,  and 
make  us  all  yassals  of  the  Son  of  Heaven.  Both 
questions  are  based  on  a  fear  of  the  so-called  Yel- 
low Peril.     Let  us  take  them  up  separately. 

The  basis  of  the  first  is  the  prevailing  low  rate 
of  wages.  Although  China  is  a  land  of  surprises 
and  contradictions,  the  law  of  supply  and  demand 
still  remains  true.  A  man  is  paid  five  cents  a  day, 
because  he  is  worth  no  more,  and  because  there 
are    more    men    seeking    employment    than    the 

286 


Chapter  X:   The  Yellow  Peril  287 

scant  diversity  of  occupation  offers  opportunities. 
Wherever  in  any  country  the  number  of  occupa- 
tions is  limited,  the  rate  of  wages  is  low  ;  thus  a 
man  receives  less  for  his  labor  in  the  rural  dis- 
tricts, where  the  variety  of  pursuits  is  small,  than 
lie  docs  in  the  cities,  where  it  is  great.  Likewise 
wherever  labor  is  specialized,  so  that  the  output  of 
the  article  made  is  increased,  wages  rise  ;  wherever 
labor  is  not  specialized,  wages  fall. 

The  extremes  of  the  less  desirable  of  the  above 
conditions  are  those  which  exist  in  China.  Ordi- 
narily the  man  obtains  his  bare  living  in  the  hard- 
est possible  manner.  11  a  farmer,  he  not  only 
raises  his  own  food,  but  he  spins  his  cotton  or 
his  wool  lor  1 1  is  clothes;  he  constructs  his  own 
farming  implements  and  makes  his  own  houses. 
If  he  be  a  Laborer  in  his  native  cities,  he  does  the 
most  menial  o(  work,  such  as  carrying  water, 
hauling  loads,  and  doing  things  that  with  us  are 
accomplished  by  animal  or  machine.  We  know 
of  our  own  experience  that  wherever  that  is  the 
case,  wages  rule  low.  The  same  thing  is  true  in 
China.  Take  any  one  of  the  treaty  ports  where 
there  are  enough  foreigners  residing  to  make  a 
settlement,  wages  will  be  found  rising,  and  ris- 
ing in  proportion  as  there  are  activity  and  diver- 
sity of  occupation.  The  more  cotton  mills,  the 
more  silk  filatures,  the  higher  arc  the  wages  paid. 
When,  therefore,  China  has  reached  a  condition  in 
which  she  can  invade  us,  it  will  be  found  that  the 


288         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

labor  conditions  will  have  adjusted  themselves  to 
a  new  level. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  argue  against  the  propo- 
sition that  it  is  unwise  to  develop  a  country  that 
some  dav  may  surpass  us  in  trade.  Yet  the  dis- 
cussion cannot  he  Left  in  the  condition  that  the 
burden  of  proof  rests  properly  with  the  affiant, 
for  those  people  who  doubt  the  wisdom  of  the 
policy  would  consider  such  a  course  as  conceding 
the  argument.  The  proposition  itself,  if  carried 
out  to  a  logical  conclusion,  would  mean  that  the 
world  at  large  would  be  better  off  commercially 
if  a  nation  like  Germany  for  instance  were  ab- 
solutely destroyed  or  relegated  to  barbarism.  Or 
to  put  it  in  another  form,  have  the  iron  masters 
of  England  been  ruined  by  the  growth  of  Pitts- 
burg? Has  the  cause  of  civilization  or  the  com- 
mercial interests  of  other  nations  been  injured  by 
reclaiming  what  is  now  the  United  States  from 
the  Indian  tribes  who  once  possessed  it?  If  this 
reasoning  is  objected  to  as  not  being  parallel,  in 
that  the  development  of  the  United  States  was 
due  to  an  overflow  from  European  countries  and 
was  not  the  result  of  transforming  an  already  ex- 
isting population  from  a  state  of  non-production 
to  one  of  active  competition,  let  us  turn  to  the 
East  for  an  illustration  that  is  exactly  parallel. 
We  will  pass  over  the  customs  returns  of  China, 
which  indicate  unmistakably  a  growth  in  import 
trade  commensurate  with  that  in  export,  and  take 


Chapter  X  :   The  Yellow  Peril  289 

up  Japan.  !n  this  we  find  a  country  having  a 
dense  population,  and  one  where  the  natives  but 
a  few  years  since  were  lar  behind  the  Chinese  of 
to-day  ;  where  the  prevailing  rate  of  wages  was 
latelv  equally  low,  but  whose  rapid  rise  into  the 
ranks  of  great  nations  is  the  marvellous  wonder 
of  the  age.  It  is  not  so  very  many  years  since 
Japan  was  tightly  closed  to  any  and  all  external 
relations,  and  even  within  a  decade  it  looked  to 
other  countries  for  such  manufactured  articles  as 
it  consumed.  Through  wise  statesmanship,  new- 
industries  have  been  developed,  trade  nurtured, 
a  merchant  marine  established  carrying  the  flag 
of  Japan  into  all  ports,  while  its  cities,  like  Osaka, 
Kyoto,  Nagova  and  Yokohama,  might  be  mis- 
taken, if  judged  by  their  factory  chimneys  and 
active  life,  for  some  bustling  cities  in  our  own 
nervous  West.  If  there  be  anything  in  the  Yel- 
low Peril,  here  surely  is  an  opportunity  where 
its  evil  effects  can  be  seen.  Here  is  a  coun- 
try, oriental  in  temperament,  developed  largely 
through  its  own  energy,  and  which  is  not,  as  the 
United  States  may  be  said  to  be,  a  second  En- 
rope.  What  are  the  facts?  In  1891  the  United 
States  sold  to  Japan  goods  valued  at  $4,800,000, 
and  to  about  the  same  amount  in  1895.  In  the 
five  years  intervening  since  the  latter  year,  the 
phenomenal  growth  in  Japanese  industrial  life  has 
taken  place.  Instead  of  the  consumption  of  for- 
eign articles  diminishing,  as  the  alarmists  would 


290         An  American  Engineer  in  China 


have  it,  the  imports  from  the  United  States  have 
increased  by  leaps  and  bounds,  reaching  in  the  fis- 
cal year  ended  June  30,  1900,  nearly  $30,000,000,  an 
increase  of  about  600  per  cent.  In  1891  our  sales 
to  China  amounted  to  $12,000,000,  or  more  than 
twice  those  to  Japan,  while  in  1900  our  exports  to 
the  former  were  about  $21,000,000,  or  an  increase 
of  less  than  100  per  cent.  In  short  the  advan- 
tage and  benefit  to  the  commerce  of  this  country 
are  greatest  in  connection  with  that  oriental  na- 
tion which  developed  the  most.  An  increase 
of  wages  in  Japan  has  taken  place  in  comparison 
with  the  increase  in  trade,  as  was  shown  to  be  the 
case  in  China  on  a  smaller  scale.  A  few  years 
ago  the  supply  of  farm  hands  was  much  greater 
than  the  demand  ;  to-day  there  is  difficult)'  in  pro- 
curing enough  to  gather  the  crops,  the  men  being 
attracted  to  the  cities  by  the  higher  wages  paid, 
and  the  cheap  labor  of  Japan  is  fast  disappearing. 
But  even  in  spite  of  the  difference  in  the  ruling 
rate  of  wages,  in  manufactured  cotton  goods  the 
United  States  is  able  to  compete  successfully  with 
Japan  in  China,  although  in  the  matter  of  raw 
material  the  two  nations  stand  on  the  same  foot- 
ing, as  Japan  imports  American  raw  cotton  to  be 
manufactured  in  her  own  mills.  On  this  point 
the  Chinese  Customs  Report  of  1898  says:  "Jap- 
anese sheetings  show  an  immense  decline,  said 
to  be  due  to  inequality  in  texture,  which  handi- 
caps them,  in  competition  with  American  goods." 


Chapter  X  :   The  Yellow  Peril  291 

The  Japanese  labor  is  cheap  because  it  is  not  as 
efficient.  When  it  is  equally  experienced,  intel- 
ligent and  reliable,  it  will  receive  corresponding 
compensation.  So  it  will  be  in  China.  The 
theory  that  would  keep  a  large  country,  embrac- 
ing an  area  equal  to  that  of  Europe,  from  the 
blessings  and  comforts  ot  modern  civilization,  is 
based  only  on  the  idea  that  trade  is  not  mutual 
and  that  the  only  customer  to  be  desired  is  he 
that  will  buy  but  cannot  sell. 

The  second  form  of  Yellow  Peril  fear  rests  on 
the  density  of  Chinese  population.  The  popular- 
ly conceived  picture  of  China  is  one  where  the 
population  has  grown  to  the  actual  limits  that  the 
land  can  support,  and  that  the  "Yellow  Terror" 
needs  but  the  suggestion  and  the  means  to  burst 
his  bonds,  and  then  from  sheer  necessity  for  the  ac- 
quisition of  more  space  will  overrun  Europe.  Let 
us  review  briefly  the  facts  in  the  case  and  ascer- 
tain what  is  the  basis  for  the  belief  that  the  popu- 
lation is  either  as  great  as  it  is  popularly  supposed 
to  be  or  that  the  land  is  actually  over-crowded. 

According  to  Williams,  the  first  Chinese  census 
of  which  there  is  any  reliable  record  was  one 
taken  in  the  year  1331  A.D.,  which  placed  the 
population  of  the  Empire  at  something  less  than 
60,000,000.  The  first  census  to  which  any  credit 
can  be  attached,  however,  was  one  reputed  to  have 
been  taken  in  the  year  171 1,  placing  the  population 
at  less  than  29,000,000,  or  about  one-half  of  what  it 


292         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

was  said  to  be  406  years  before.  Although  there 
is  considerable  doubt  as  to  whether  this  census 
included  the  whole  oi  the  Empire,  the  general 
looseness  ol  statement  in  regard  to  the  popula- 
tion is  to  be  noted.  In  1812  an  elaborate  Chinese 
census  was  said  to  have  been  compiled,  placing 
the  population  of  the  country  at  362,000,000,  and 
in  1 86S  a  Russian  statistician  named  Vassilivitch 
estimated  it  at  405,000,000.  In  1881  figures  col- 
lected through  the  Maritime  Customs  officials 
gave  a  total  of  380,000,000,  being  a  decrease  since 
1868  and  an  absurdly  small  increase  since  181 2. 
These  last  three  censuses  so  called  are  the  ones 
that  are  generally  accepted  as  approximating  the 
population  of  the  country,  and  from  which,  rely- 
ing on  a  normal  rate  of  increase,  the  present  pop- 
ulation is  generally  assumed  to  be  about  450,000,- 
000.  Such  are  the  primary  facts.  Now  what  is 
the  evidence  in  support  of  their  reliability  ?  Of 
course  no  actual  count  of  the  people  in  China  has 
ever  been  undertaken  in  the  same  correct  and 
careful  manner  that  the  regular  count  of  foreign 
nations  is  periodically  made.  The  Chinese  officials 
attempt  to  keep  a  record  of  their  people,  which  is 
done,  not  by  counting  heads,  but  by  ascertaining 
the  number  of  families  in  each  small  district,  and 
then  by  multiplying  the  number  of  families  as 
reported  by  an  average,  assumed  to  give  correctly 
the  number  of  persons  per  family.  In  this  man- 
ner the  supposed  population  in  any  given  district 


Chapter  X  :   The  Yellow  Peril  293 

is  estimated.  These  figures  are  reported  from 
time  to  time  to  the  higher  provincial  officers,  in 
order  to  determine  the  population  oi  each  province 
for  taxation  purposes,  and  it  is  on  such  figures 
that  the  great  Chinese  census  of  18 12  was  made 
and  the  subsequent  figures  ol  Vassiliviteh  and  the 
Chinese  Customs  compiled.  If  this  method  were 
pursued  faithfully,  even  approximately,  the  gen- 
eral result  would  be  somewhere  near  the  actual 
facts,  but  we  know  that  the  Chinese,  of  all  peoples 
in  the  world,  are  the  most  inaccurate.  Whenever 
a  Chinese  makes  a  statement  it  is  invariably  pre- 
ceded by  the  word  "about,"  and  an  accurate  state- 
ment of  figures  or  statist ies  is  something  entirely 
beyond  his  comprehension.  1 1  is  very  system  of 
counting  stops  at  ten  thousand,  and  when  he 
wishes  to  use  numbers  above  that,  he  is  com- 
pelled to  count  bv  so  many  tens  of  thousands. 
The  methods  of  written  arithmetic  and  of  re- 
cording figures  are  unknown  to  him.  When  he 
wishes  to  work  out  an  example  in  addition  or 
subtraction,  or  perform  any  other  arithmetical 
solution,  he  does  so,  not  with  the  figures  before 
him,  but  on  a  counting  machine.  To  him,  figures, 
or  rather  accuracy  in  handling  them,  mean  noth- 
ing, but  when  he  does  use  figures,  he  not  only 
expresses  them  as  "about,"  but  invariably  makes 
an  overstatement.  It  a  distance  between  two 
points  is  required,  the  figures  given  will  always 
be  in  excess.     If  the  price  of  an  article  is  asked, 


294         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

it  is  always  one  greater  than  the  real  one,  and 
even  in  stating  his  age,  where  one  would  natu- 
rally look  for  accuracy,  he  increases  the  actual 
figure  by  one  year,  by  considering  that  the  child 
is  one  year  old  when  he  is  born,  and  thus  it  goes 
through  all  cases  where  he  has  to  handle  num- 
bers. Such  being  the  case,  his  own  statements 
in  regard  to  population  cannot  command  our  ac- 
ceptance without  corroborating  evidence.  As  has 
been  shown  above,  what  might  be  termed  the 
internal  evidence  of  the  figures  themselves  is  far 
from  convincing,  for  not  only  do  the  totals  fail  to 
show  any  correlation,  but  the  details  of  the  prov- 
inces also  are  sadly  at  variance.  Thus  the  prov- 
ince of  Kwang-tung,  where  facts  are  easily  ascer- 
tainable, was  shown  in  1812  to  contain  19,175,000 
people,  and  was  given  19,200,000  by  the  Customs 
estimate  in  188 1,  while  Sz-chuen,  the  extreme 
western  province,  much  less  travelled  than 
Kwang-tung,  was  credited  with  21,000,000  in  1812, 
with  35,000,000  in  1 88 1,  and  with  over  70,000,000 
now.  There  has  been  no  such  disproportionate 
growth.  The  most  important  of  these  censuses  is, 
of  course,  that  given  out  by  the  Chinese  Customs. 
But  the  Maritime  Customs  Bureau  had  no  means 
of  ascertaining  the  population  except  through 
taking  the  Chinese  figures  and  making  such  allow- 
ance in  them  as  seemed  proper  for  local  discrep- 
ancies. The  officials  of  the  Customs  are  located 
at  the  treaty  ports,  where,  of  course,  the  greatest 


Chapter  X  :   The  Yellow  Peril  295 

concentration  of  population  exists,  and  where  the 
outward  evidence  would  seem  to  support  the  es- 
timates of  a  dense  population. 

Various  writers  on  China  have  discussed  this 
question  ol  population  from  both  points  of 
view.  Williams,  in  his  "  Middle  Kingdom,"  says: 
"  Whatever  may  be  our  views  of  the  actual  popu- 
lation, it  is  plain  that  these  censuses,  with  all  their 
discrepancies  and  inaccuracies,  are  the  only  reli- 
able sources  of  information.  .  .  .  As  the  ques- 
tion stands  at  present  they  can  be  doubted,  but 
cannot  be  denied  ;  it  is  impossible  to  prove  them, 
still  there  are  many  grounds  for  believing  them. 
The  enormous  total  which  they  exhibit  can  be 
declared  to  be  improbable,  but  not  shown  to  be 
impossible."  From  this,  Williams  goes  on  to 
reason,  although  showing  his  own  doubt,  that 
we  should  accept  the  figures  until  they  can  be 
proved  to  be  untrue. 

Dr.  A.  II.  Smith,  who  probably  knows  China 
and  the  Chinese  as  well  as  any  other  writer,  in 
his  recent  book  on  "Village  Life"  supports  the 
idea  of  density  of  population  as  shown  by  the 
Chinese  census,  by  giving  results  of  actual  counts 
in  certain  districts  in  the  province  of  Shan-tung, 
which  would  seem  to  bear  out  the  official  figures. 
Among  other  critical  observers,  Mr.  Colquhoun 
states  his  belief,  when  comparing  India  and  China, 
the  population  of  the  former  being  fairly  well 
known,  that    the   population   of    the    latter   would 


296  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


seem  to  be  about  350,000,000,  although  admitting 
thai  other  persons  who  have  examined  into  this 
question  have  put  the  population  below  300,000,- 
000.  An  American,  General  James  11.  Wilson, 
who  has  travelled  extensively  in  the  northern 
part  o!  China,  which  is  probably  the  most  densely 
populated  portion,  doubts  the  figures  as  stated  by 
the  various  authorities  and  considers  that  360,000,- 
000  would  be  the  maximum  limit  that  he  would 
believe.  Other  authorities  can  be  quoted  in  a  sim- 
ilar strain,  the  general  summary  of  such  opinions 
being  that  we  should  not  doubt  the  Chinese  fig- 
ures until  they  are  disproved,  and  that  although 
the  population  appears  to  the  writers  to  be  great, 
it  may  not  be  so  great  as  the  census  states.  Such 
is  the  defence  of  the  theory  of  great  density  of 
population.  Oi  all  the  statements  made,  that 
possibly  of  Dr.  Smith  is  entitled  to  the  most  re- 
spect, but  his  figures  were  taken  from  the  prov- 
ince of  Shan-tung,  and  on  a  portion  of  the  great 
plain,  where  naturally  the  population  is  most 
dense,  as  there  the  greatest  facilities  for  raising 
crops  and  supporting  the  population  exist.  As 
his  work,  that  of  a  missionary,  lay  principally 
among  villages  and  places  where  most  people 
live,  it  is  possible  that  even  he  did  not  make  an 
allowance  for  the  vast  areas  of  waste  ground 
which  are  to  be  found  all  over  the  Empire. 

While  the  portion  of  China  actually  inspected 
on  my  own    journey  and    on  other   trips    to  the 


Chapter  X:    The  Yellow  Peril  297 


north  and  elsewhere  is  small  as  compared  with 
the  whole,  nevertheless  the  districts  seen  were 
certainly  typical  and  contained  the  great  centres 
of  population.  From  what  I  saw  I  am  forced 
to  believe  that  the  density  of  the  population 
of  China  has  been  most  grossly  exaggerated. 
Nowhere,  not  even  on  the  plains  surrounding 
Peking,  did  I  see  anything  approaching  a  condi- 
tion of  overcrowding.  On  all  sides  there  was 
evidence  in  abundance  that  the  soil  could  sup- 
port a  very  much  larger  mass  of  people  than  it 
does  at  present,  and  my  own  attempts  to  secure 
figures  relating  to  the  population  of  the  districts 
through  which  1  travelled,  convinced  me  that  no 
reliability  whatever  could  be  placed  on  Chinese 
figures.  In  some  cases  it  is  true  the  local  offi- 
cial presented  me  with  a  tabulated  statement 
showing  the  population  of  a  district,  but  when 
these  figures  were  compared  with  figures  for  an 
adjoining  district,  and  where  in  each  case  I  was 
able  to  make  at  least  a  comparison  as  to  the  rela- 
tive density  of  population  of  the  two,  the  evidence 
of  unreliability  was  so  great  thai  1  was  forced  to 
discredit  them  both.  In  the  majority  of  cases,  in- 
quiries as  to  population  were  productive  of  no  re- 
sults at  all.  As  Dr.  Smith  himself  states,  such  a 
question  usually  provokes  the  answer  of  "Who 
knows?"  or  "  Quite  a  few."  In  one  case  in  my  own 
experience  an  application  made  to  the  local  mag- 
istrate (the  man  who  should  keep  in  his  3  amen  a 


298         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

record  of  the  number  of  families)  as  to  how  many 
people  lived  in  his  district,  he  replied,  "  Many  tens 
of  thousands."  .After  he  was  pressed  for  greater 
detail,  he  replied  that  he  had  told  me  that  there 
were  "  many  "  tens  of  thousands,  and  lie  appeared 
to  really  believe  that  the  word  "  many  "  gave  me 
an  accurate  answer  to  my  question.  When  it  is 
recalled  that  such  men  as  these  are  those  who 
gather  the  basal  figures  for  any  census,  and  bearing 
in  mind  the  general  inaccuracy  and  looseness  of 
statement  characteristic  of  the  Chinese,  it  seems 
to  me  that  their  figures  of  population  should  be  set 
aside  as  almost  unworthy  of  serious  considera- 
tion. The  burden  of  proof  is  undoubtedly  on  the 
Chinese,  and  as  there  is  no  direct  evidence  to  sup- 
port their  claim,  and  much  to  make  one  doubt  it, 
the  whole  question  seems  to  be  (airly  open  for  un- 
biassed investigation. 

In  other  countries  the  average  density  of  popu- 
lation depends  largely  upon  the  concentration  of 
people  in  great  cities.  Of  the  total  population  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  more  than  one-half  of  it 
is  concentrated  in  a  small  area,  covered  bv  the 
City  of  New  York.  Of  the  population  of  Eng- 
land, one-fifth  of  it  is  comprised  in  London  alone; 
and  if  the  population  of  all  cities  of  over  50,000  in 
any  country  are  removed  from  consideration,  the 
average  number  of  people  per  square  mile  will 
be  found  to  be  very  low.  It  used  to  be  supposed 
that  the  cities  of  China  were  exceedingly  popu- 


Chapter  X :   The  Yellow  Peril  299 


Ions,  Peking  being  credited  with  a  population  of 
several  millions.  This  is  now  known  and  gener- 
ally admitted  not  to  be  the  fact,  and  Peking, 
instead  of  being  one  of  the  largest  cities  of  the 
world,  evidently  does  not  possess  over  700,000 
inhabitants. 

Taking,  for  example,  the  provinces  of  Hu-peh, 
Hu-nan,  and  Kwang-tung,  along  whose  chief  trade 
routes,  and  consequently  most  densely  populated 
sections,  my  journey  led  me,  of  these  Hu-peh  is 
usually  credited  with  something  over  30,000,000. 
The  only  large  centre  of  population  of  Hu-peh  is 
Hankow,  which,  with  Wu-chang  and  Han-yang, 
cannot  have  more  than  1,250,000.  While  there  are 
several  other  cities  in  the  province,  with  possibly 
from  50,000  to  100,000  people  each,  there  is  no 
other  very  large  aggregation  of  people.  Hu-nan 
has  an  area  of  75,000  square  miles,  or  just  about  one 
and  one-half  times  as  much  as  the  State  of  New 
York.  The  former  is  credited  with  22,000,000  and 
the  latter  with  about  7,000,000  of  people.  My 
journey  through  Hu-nan  is  comparable  with  a  trip 
from  New  York  to  Buffalo,  along  the  line  of  the 
Erie  Canal  and  the  New  York  Central  Railroad. 
On  the  first,  there  are  but  two  really  large  cities, 
Chang-sha  and  Siang-tan,  to  offset  New  York, 
Albany,  Schenectadv,  Syracuse,  Rochester,  Buf- 
falo, and  intermediate  points.  It  is  impossible 
to  see  how  there  can  be  a  relative  density  per 
square  mile  of  more   than   two  to  one  in   favor  of 


300         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

the  Chinese  province.  Kwang-tung  is  given 
30,000,000,  approximately,  on  an  area  of  about 
80,000  square  miles.  The  northern  part  is  moun- 
tainous and  almost  bare  of  people,  and  no  crowd- 
ing is  apparent  until  Canton  is  approached.  If 
the  district  of  Canton,  including  Fatshan  and  the 
other  places  in  the  vicinity,  be  credited  with  5,000,- 
000 — a  most  generous  allowance — there  would 
remain  25,000,000  to  be  made  up  by  the  smaller 
cities  and  villages.  If  these  places  should  aver- 
age 2,500  people  each,  there  would  then  be  needed 
10,000  of  them.  I  am  quite  sure  that  no  such 
number  can  be  found. 

While  I  have  no  means  of  forming  any  estimate 
of  the  actual  number  of  people  to  be  found  in 
these  three  provinces,  I  am  convinced  that  the 
originally  reputed  figures  are  more  than  twice  too 
great.  This  view  of  overestimating  on  the  part 
of  the  Chinese  is  corroborated  by  the  report  of  a 
commission  sent  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
Lvons,  France,  in  1895,  to  investigate  the  trade 
conditions  of  certain  parts  of  China,  notably  the 
provinces  of  Yun-nan  and  Sz-chuen,  in  which  the 
French  Government  claimed  special  commercial 
privileges.  In  order  to  acquire  information  they 
subdivided  their  main  bod)-  into  several  parties, 
and  thus  in  their  two  years'  work  covered  all  the 
principal  routes.  Of  the  province  of  Yun-nan, 
they  speak  as  follows: 

"  There  is  the  same  uncertainty  in  the  matter  of 


Chapter  X:    The  Yellow  Peril  301 

population.  In  spite  of  the  authorities,  \vc  are 
forced  to  believe  that  the  figure  of  twelve  mill- 
ions is  too  great,  and  that  one  of  seven  or  eight 
millions  would  come  closer  to  the  truth,  although 
a  missionary  who  had  travelled  much  throughout 
the  province  gave  an  estimate  of  from  four  to  five 
millions." 

The  province  of  Sz-chuen,  which  is  the  largest 
province  in  China,  has  assigned  to  it  a  population 
of  73,000,000.  The  French  commission  state  that 
they  discard,  without  hesitation,  the  above-named 
figure,  and  give  as  their  estimate  from  40,000,000 
to  50,000,000,  but  add  that  the  Customs  authori- 
ties at  Chung-king  and  the  missionaries  estimate 
the  population  at  from  30,000,000  to  35,000,000. 

We  thus  have  a  careful  estimate  made  by  men 
who  can  hardly  be  accused  of  pessimism,  giving 
but  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  usually  quoted  figures. 
In  addition  to  this  they  felt  constrained  to  point 
out  that  the  missionaries,  who  probably  know  the 
country  better  than  anybody  else,  estimate  the 
population  on  a  basis  of  from  thirty  to  forty  per 
cent. 

The  foreigner  gets  his  idea  of  the  overcrowd- 
ing of  China  by  a  cursory  trip  through  the  streets 
of  a  Chinese  city  like  Canton.  These  streets  are 
narrow,  being  but  from  eight  to  twelve  feet  wide, 
and  are  consequently  crowded,  but  he  must  re- 
member that  the  widest  one  of  Canton's  busi- 
ness streets  is  narrower  than  a  single  sidewalk  in 


304         An  American  Engineer  in  China 


to  consist  of  several  millions  of  men,  weighed 
down  with  rifles  and  ammunition,  artillery  and 
ordnance,  and  the  other  heavy  impedimenta  of 
modern  warfare.  Thus  encumbered  —  for  the 
whole  of  the  equipment  would  have  to  be  car- 
ried from  the  starting-base — this  huge,  unwieldy 
army  would  have  to  cross  into  Europe  by  one 
of  the  three  land  routes,  for  an  attack  by  water 
would  be  impossible.  These  routes  are:  south- 
westerly across  Burma  into  India,  northwesterly 
across  Siberia,  or  directly  west  across  the  high 
table-land  of  Central  Asia  ;  in  any  case  a  distance 
of  at  least-6,000  miles.  In  either  of  the  first  two, 
the  attacking  force  would  be  met  by  defending 
forces  constantly  in  touch  with  their  base  of  sup- 
plies, through  their  own  railway  systems,  and 
which  on  retreating  would  form  a  greater  concen- 
tration. The  attacking  force  would  be  under  the 
disadvantage  of  working  further  and  further  from 
its  base,  with  its  line  of  communication  being 
thus  constantly  lengthened  and  attenuated,  and 
maintained  only  bv  the  constructing  of  new  rail- 
ways as  it  progressed,  for,  of  course,  the  defend- 
ing force,  if  defeated,  would  destroy  their  lines  of 
communication.  The  last  of  these  routes,  that 
across  Central  Asia,  would  involve  a  march  across 
a  high  and  mountainous  country,  where  there  is 
practically  no  population,  no  means  whatever  of 
feeding  and  supporting  the  gigantic  army  re- 
quired, and  where  the  combined  Europeans  could 


Chapter  X  :   The  Yellow  Peril  305 

leave  climatic  conditions,  starvation,  and  other 
natural  causes  to  protect  them  from  the  advanc- 
ing foe. 

To  be  able  to  carry  out  such  an  invasion  there 
would  be  required  tremendous  preparation,  the 
development  of  industrial  enterprise,  and  the  con- 
sequent bringing  up  of  the  people  to  a  high  stand- 
ard of  civilization.  When  that  point  is  reached, 
the  people  themselves  will  shrink  from  general 
warfare,  as  other  civilized  nations  do  now,  since 
their  interests  at  home  will  transcend  any  possi- 
ble gain  to  be  obtained  abroad.  This  reluctance 
in  the  case  of  the  Chinese  will  be  further  enhanced 
through  local  racial  prejudice,  diversity  of  lan- 
guage and  temperament  existing  among  them- 
selves, as  developed  by  climatic  conditions,  vary- 
ing from  the  temperate  to  the  tropical. 

The  only  way  in  which  the  yellow  races  can 
conquer  the  world,  either  commercially  or  actu- 
ally, will  be,  not  by  force,  not  by  hordes,  but  by 
peacefully  developing  a  higher  civilization  as  the 
Western  World  has  done.  The  contemplation  of 
future  generations  receiving  from  the  Far  East  a 
betterment  in  condition  and  a  higher  civilization 
is  one  that  does  not  appear  to  contain  many 
terrors. 


Chapter 

XI 

China  in  the  Twentieth   Century 

IN  the  preceding  chapters  there  has  been  pre- 
sented a  brief  review  of  the  greater  and  more 
important  conditions  underlying  and  leading 
up  to  such  industrial  development  in  China  as  is 
found  to  exist  at  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. I  have  endeavored  to  let  the  reader  see  the 
country,  the  people,  their  ways  of  doing  things, 
what  has  been  accomplished  and  the  difficulties 
in  the  path  of  further  progress,  as  these  appeared 
to  me.  But  what  of  the  future?  We  have  seen 
that  the  Chinese,  are  absolute  and  unthinking 
slaves  to  precedent  and  established  custom,  and 
how  in  lieu  of  a  practical  and  serviceable  educa- 
tion they  still  continue  to  memorize  the  doc- 
trines of  Confucius,  who,  in  his  day,  merely  put 
into  permanent  and  imperishable  form  the  teach- 
ings of  those  whom  even  he  called  the  ancients. 
Are  these  habits  so  firmly  fixed  after  five  thousand 
years  of  practice  that  they  cannot  be  broken?  Or 
in  spite  of  all,  does  there  exist  in  the  Chinese  char- 
acter the  latent  trait  of  mobility?  The  Chinaman 
was  once  an  engineer  of  no  mean  ability.  Is  he 
going  to  let  things  rest  as  they  are,  or  will  he  set 
about  to  learn  the  newer  application  of  science, 
especially  modern  methods  of  transportation,  the 
direction  in  which  he  is  most  deficient  ?     Will  he 

306 


Chapter  XI :    In  the  Twentieth  Century    307 

appreciate  the  benefits  oJ  railways  and  steam-boats, 
of  mines  and  metallurgy,  oi  factories  and  machin- 
ery, of  steam  and  electricity?  Such  are  the  ques- 
tions that  the  critic  asks  alter  a  survey  of  the  past 
and  present,  but  which  questions  are  not  subjeel  to 
an  exact  reply.  In  spite  oi  difference  in  surround- 
ings and  appearances,  oi  personal  characteristics 
and  idiosyncrasies,  the  Chinese  are  actuated  by 
feelings,  reasonings,  passions,  and  motives  similar 
to  those  of  other  human  beings,  so  that  it  is  justi- 
fiable to  assume  that  similar  causes  will  bring 
about  similar  results.  The  development  of  China, 
assisted  at  first  perhaps  by  outside  influence,  but 
eventually  carried  on  by  the  impulses  of  her  own 
people,  is  as  sure  to  come  to  pass  as  in  the  case 
of  other  nations ;  and  when  at  last  it  has  broken 
down  completely  the  wall  of  exclusion  and  isola- 
tion, the  progress  that  will  follow  will  produce 
great  results,  aided  as  it  will  be  by  the  mineral 
wealth  of  the  country  and  the  industrious  habits 
of  the  people. 

Japan  in  less  than  lift}'  years  has  risen  from  a 
condition  far  inferior  to  that  oi  China  to  one 
where  in  every  walk  of  life  she  justly  receives  the 
admiration  of  other  nations.  What  Japan  has  done 
there  is  nothing  to  prevent  China  doing.  Hut 
before  any  regeneration  oi  China  can  take  place, 
there  is  one  institution  that  must  go,  and  will  go, 
and  one  institution  that  must  come,  and  will  come. 
The    first   is   the   present    official   class,   and    their 


308         An  American  Engineer  in  China 

method  of  governing,  and  the  last  is  modern  edu- 
cation, the  great  prerequisite  for  a  social  revolu- 
tion, and  on  which  all  rehabilitation  ol  the  people, 
including  even  their  religion,  will  rest.  These 
two  are  so  interdependent  that  it  is  difficult  to 
distinguish  between  cause  and  effect,  but  certain 
it  is  that  the  weakening  of  incompetent  rule  and 
the  spread  of  occidental  education  are  each  at 
work  to  secure  the  accomplishment  of  the  other. 

In  no  country  is  the  gulf  between  the  govern- 
ing and  the  governed  so  wide  and  deep  as  it  is  in 
China.  As  has  been  explained,  the  former  appre- 
ciate that  their  powers,  perquisites,  and  oppor- 
tunities for  getting  rich  depend  on  maintaining 
the  existing  condition  of  affairs.  No  great  or 
lasting  advance  is  possible  while  the  present  sys- 
tem of  officialdom  and  officialism  continues.  In 
this  respect  China  resembles  Japan  as  the  latter 
was  when  opened  to  the  outside  world  by  Com- 
modore Perry,  and  down  to  the  overthrow  of  the 
Shogun  and  the  attending  feudalism.  When  these 
surviving  relics  of  by-gone  centuries  were  swept 
away,  and  the  power  to  govern  and  to  act  was 
concentrated  in  the  hands  of  the  Mikado,  Japan's 
regeneration  began.  There  are  men  in  China 
who  are  able  to  see  beyond  the  immediate  limits 
of  their  personal  ends,  and  who  can  patriotically 
consider  the  needs  of  their  country,  and  there  is 
rapidly  growing  among  the  people  an  apprecia- 
tion of  wrongs  suffered,  and  a  possible  betterment 


Chapter  XI  :    In  the  Twentieth  Century    309 

to  be  obtained.  This  movement  will  eventually 
gather  momentum  sufficient  to  break  down  be- 
fore it  the  barriers  of  ignorance,  superstition,  and 
selfishness  that  now  impede  its  progress.  In  the 
achieving  of  this  result  outside  help  will  do  some 
good,  but  the  greater  aid  will  be  secured  through 
the  education  of  the  people.  Of  education,  the 
seeds  have  been  planted,  and  some  of  the  fruits 
are  alreadv  being  gathered.  The  work  of  dissem- 
inating modern  learning  is  being  carried  on  freely 
by  the  missionary  bodies,  but  as  a  general  rule 
under  a  policv  that  is  steadily  becoming  more 
liberal  in  treating  education  as  something  which, 
though  possiblv  leading  to,  is  in  itself  distinct 
from,  religion,  and  a  policv  which  therefore  rec- 
ognizes in  schools  no  difference  between  those 
professing  Christianity  and  those  adhering  to 
native  beliefs.  Similar  good  work  is  also  done 
through  the  agencv  of  a  society  which  is  espe- 
cially organized  under  foreign  and  native  patron- 
age, tor  the  purpose  of  Diffusing  Knowledge,  and 
partly  by  the  labors  of  the  Chinese  themselves. 
This  last  form  is  the  most  encouraging  and  prom- 
ising sign.  At  Peking  there  was  established  a 
well-organized  college  under  imperial  sanction 
and  support,  where  Chinese  students  could  obtain 
a  very  liberal  education.  At  Shanghai  there  is 
another  college,  maintained  through  the  personal 
liberalitv  of  Sheng  Tajen,  and  at  other  points 
throughout  the  Empire  there  are  similar  institu- 


3io         An  American  Engineer  in  China 


tions.  The  several  thousand  students  attending 
the  various  "foreign"  schools,  although  perhaps 
but  a  small  portion  of  the  whole  population,  nev- 
ertheless are  sufficient  to  attest  the  successful  and 
permanent  establishment  of  occidental  education. 
Every  student  that  leaves  one  of  these  schools 
becomes,  as  it  were,  a  spore  centre,  whence  a  little 
circle  of  new  thought  germinates  and  spreads, 
and  thus  the  progress  and  effect  of  education  will 
proceed,  gathering  strength  of  its  own  accord. 

Two  little  incidents  that  came  under  my  own 
notice  will  illustrate  the  spirit  that  animates  the 
Chinese  who  have  taken  up  this  question  of  educa- 
tion. The  closing  of  the  so-called  foreign  schools 
at  Chang-sha  was  followed  by  earnest  efforts  on 
the  part  of  the  authorities  to  blot  out  if  possible 
all  the  effects  of  their  teachings,  and  to  this  end 
the  native  instructors  were  ferreted  out  and  com- 
pelled to  leave  the  capital.  During  my  stop  at 
Chang-sha  there  came  to  my  boat  a  messenger 
who  left  a  package  and  immediately  disappeared. 
On  opening  it,  it  was  found  to  contain  a  Chinese 
work  on  geometry,  with  the  card  of  the  native 
author  who  had  been  on  the  school  staff.  He  left 
no  address  and  gave  no  way  in  which  his  gift  could 
be  acknowledged.  Probably  he  was  hiding  some- 
where in  the  city  and  trying  to  eke  out  an  existence 
by  some  lowly  trade,  and  biding  his  time  with  a 
firm  confidence  that  the  hour  would  come  again 
when  he  could  resume  his    teaching.       Hearing 


Chapter  XI:    In  the  Twentieth  Century    311 


that  a  foreigner,  and  that  foreigner,  a  man  like 
himself,  of  scientific  training,  had  at  last  reached 
Chang-sha,  he  knew  that  in  him  he  would  find  ap- 
preciation, and  therefore  sent  his  little  work  with 
an  author's  pride.  He  sought  no  other  reward 
than  the  pleasure  he  took  in  the  knowledge  that 
the  thought  would  be  understood.  If,  as  I  be- 
lieve, he  did  not  dare  make  any  more  open  recog- 
nition, then  the  very  simplicity  of  the  act  indicated 
the  spirit  that,  when  necessity  requires,  suffices 
to  make  the  martyr. 

On  another  occasion  a  high-class  mandarin  who 
accompanied  me  during  part  of  the  journey,  asked 
for  advice  as  to  where  in  China  he  could  best  send 
his  two  sons  to  receive  a  Western  education,  add- 
ing that  he  had  been  burdened  all  his  life  with  use- 
less knowledge  and  therefore  wished  his  sons  to  be 
trained  against  the  day  which  he  was  sure  was 
coming  for  China,  when  men  of  intelligence  and 
liberal  education  would  be  called  on  for  public 
office,  adding  naively  that  a  Christian  school  was 
not  objectionable.  Such  examples  are  by  no  means 
isolated.  China  is  full  of  such  men,  and  corrupt 
officialism  can  no  more  stand  against  the  growing 
light  than  can  the  darkness  of  night  prevent  the 
coming  dawn.  Education  will  sweep  away  the  in- 
crustations that  hamper  progress,  and  as  each  im- 
provement intheranksof  the  official  class  occurs, 
such  addition  will  hasten  the  advance  and  spread 
of  education.     Thus  the  downfall  of  one  will  go 


3i2         An  American  Engineer  in  China 


hand  in  hand  with  the  rise  of  the  other.  Slower  in 
thought  and  action,  slower  to  accept  innovations 
than  the  Japanese,  yet  this  very  trait  makes  the 
Chinese  tinner  in  the  new  way  when  once  adopt- 
ed, and  therefore  we  may  look  in  the  twentieth 
century  for  a  development  in  China,  less  rapid 
perhaps  in  its  earlier  stages,  just  as  its  beginning 
has  been  longer  postponed,  yet  in  its  ultimate  ex- 
pansion more  thorough,  more  complete,  and  more 
far-reaching. 

The  journey  on  which  this  book  is  based,  was 
made  before  the  "  Boxer  "  outbreak  of  June,  1900. 
The  latter  seems  to  confirm  the  above-described 
traits  of  national  character  and  existing  conditions 
of  life,  and  to  emphasize  that  there  is  really  no 
such  thing  in  China  as  a  government,  according 
to  our  understanding  of  that  term.  There  is  the 
outward  form,  but  it  is  entirely  devoid  of  sub- 
stance. There  are  officials,  but  they  lack  power, 
and  even  the  imperious  will  of  the  Empress  Dow- 
ager cannot  be  impressed  on  the  people  at  large. 
The  present  disturbance,  if  it  is  viewed  as  a  popu- 
lar uprising,  indicates  the  helplessness  of  the  cen- 
tral government  to  govern  ;  or  if  it  is  believed  to  be 
actually  supported  by  the  authorities,  then  we  see 
the  curious  spectacle  of  a  government  carrying 
on  a  war  against  the  civilized  world  in  concert, 
with  the  greater  part  of  its  people  and  the  whole 
of   its    navy    standing    by,    apparently    unmoved. 


Chapter  XI  :   In  the  Twentieth  Century    313 

What  other  country  but  China  can  present  such 
an  anomaly  ? 

But  China  and  the  Chinese  must  not  be  judged 
by  the  movement  of  a  fanatical  sect,  although  that 
movement  may  acquire  sufficient  strength  to  in- 
flame the  whole  country,  but  rather  by  the  failure 
to  govern  on  the  part  of  a  government  whose  life- 
spring  has  long  since  been  dead.  On  this  account 
there  is  no  need  to  destroy  the  country,  to  parcel 
it  among  the  European  Powers,  or  to  reduce  the 
people  to  a  state  of  vassalage  to  be  used  by  the 
other  nations  as  "  buffer  states."  Such  is  not 
world's  progress.  The  fault  lies  not  in  the  peo- 
ple but  in  the  so-called  governing  class,  who  are 
unable  or  unwilling  to  guide  the  people  in  their 
tranquil  ignorance,  or  to  control  them  in  their 
ignorant  turbulence.  If  the  break-up  of  China 
can  be  prevented  for  a  few  years,  all  this  is  sus- 
ceptible of  correction.  Give  China  a  chance  and 
a  little  help  and  she  is  quite  capable  of  working 
out  her  own  salvation.  Let  there  be  established 
a  government  that  is  capable  of  governing  hon- 
estly and  well.  Let  order  be  guaranteed.  Let 
the  way  be  prepared  for  transforming  the  dead 
civilization  of  the  past  into  the  living  civilization 
of  the  present.  As  one  looks  at  her  fertile  fields 
and  sees  her  patient  and  industrious  people,  one 
cannot  help  wishing  that  there  may  come  for 
China  a  Peter  the  Great  to  elevate  his  people  by 
the  developing  of  industry  and  diversifying  of  oc- 


314  An  American  Engineer  in  China 


cupation;  and  a  Washington  to  instil  in  them  a 
lofty  sense  of  national  unity,  spirit  of  freedom,  and 
love  of  country.  The  seeds  for  this  work  have 
been  sown.  Schools  have  been  founded,  industries 
are  being  multiplied,  railways  are  being  built  to 
connect  the  various  parts  of  the  Empire  and  so 
actually  and  metaphorically  to  bind  them  together 
with  bonds  of  steel,  while  the  foreign  settlements 
that  are  springing  up  are  silent  but  eloquent  wit- 
nesses of  better  possible  conditions  of  life.  By  all 
of  these,  if  time  be  given,  in  spite  of  such  tem- 
porary set-backs  as  the  present  trouble,  there  will 
develop  in  the  Chinese  a  new  intellectual  activity, 
and  an  appreciation  of  patriotic  unity  which  by 
making  the  man  from  the  East  and  the  South  feel 
that  he  is  one  with  him  from  the  West  and  the 
North,  will  enable  China  once  more  to  take  her 
place  among  the  great  nations  of  the  earth. 

In  the  work  of  regeneration  the  influence  of 
the  United  States  should  be,  and  for  many  rea- 
sons inevitably  will  be,  of  preponderating  weight. 
Thus  we  shall  have  the  final  confirmation  of  the 
singular  and  interesting  circumstance  that  the 
world's  progress  has  always  been  from  the  rising 
to  the  setting  sun,  ex  oriente  lux.  Now,  after  a 
lapse  of  five  thousand  years,  the  youngest  of  the 
great  nations  is  preparing  to  pass  on,  or  rather  to 
return,  this  light,  to  the  oldest,  whence  it  started 
in  its  "  circum-orbem  "  journey.  Whether  the 
latter,  receiving  back   the   flame,   will  add  some- 


Chapter  XI:    In  the  Twentieth  Century    315 


thing  to  its  brightness  as  each  previous  nation 
has  clone,  and  start  it  moving  once  more  west- 
ward, and  so  begin  a  new  and  still  higher  circle 
of  development  for  the  world,  is  one  of  those  in- 
teresting questions  that  only  a  generation  far  in 
the  future  will  be  able  to  answer.  We  of  to-day 
are  concerned  not  so  much  with  what  China  will 
eventually  do  with  progress,  as  with  what  we 
ourselves  can  and  should  do  with  it  now. 


The  End. 


Ind 


e  x 


Accuracy,  123,  293,  294,  297 
American  concession,  44-53,  252 

influence,  173,  314 

op]  "inanities,  173-179 

policy,  44,  314 
Ancestral  worship,  140 
Annam,  39,  263 
Anti-foreign  spirit,  120 
Arbor  culture,  172 
Arches,  20,  199-205 
Architecture,  Chinese,  215,  217 

Banking,  Chinese,  167,  181 

111  concession,  252,  253,  256, 
257,  262 
I  |i  ,11  (Is  of  government,  27 
Boxers,  52,  312 
Bridges,  199-209 

British  concessions,  253,  254,  256, 
257,  262 
interests,  261,  262 
possessions,  37,  42 
Buddhism,  23,  139 
Budget,   Imperial,  189 
Bulkheads  in  junks,  227 

Cantilever  bridge,  207 

Canton,  45,  46,  99,  100,  III,  112, 
119,  151,  251,  252,  261,  280,  300, 
301 

1   anton  River,  34,  37,  112 

Card,  Chinese  visiting,  84,  88,  145 

Cash,  coin,  182 

Celestial  Kingdi  'in,  [6 

Census,  Chinese,  291-296 

Chair,  sedan,  72,  76,  87,  89,  238, 
239 


Chang   Chih-tung,   7,   30,    58,   86, 

119 
Chang-sha,  6,  50,  52,  82,  87,  103, 

104,  168,  310 
Character,  127,  215 
Chan  I  >ynasty,  20 
Che-ling  Pass,  99 
Chi-li,  pro\  mce  of,  35,  163 
China,  area  of,  17 

name  of,  16 
( 'hinese  language,  18 

origin  of,  18 
Christianity,    introduction    of,   24, 

25 

(  'hiistmas,  70 

City,  Chinese,  82,  301 

Civilization,  Chinese,  105,  166 

(  'lassies,  (  'hinese,  20,  60,  137 

( Ilothing,  80,  105,  167,  287 

1  :oal,  35,  5i.  98.  116,  171,  247,  255 

Coins,  Chinese,   182 

Commerce,  148,  180 

with  Europe,  160 

with  <  heat  Britain,  160 

with  India,  160 

with  Japan,  153,  155,  160,  171 

with  Russia,  164 

with    f'nited    States,    160,    161, 
162,  172 
Conipradore,  178 

Concessions  (settlements),  foreign, 
42 

(railway).     See  Railways 
Confucianism,  21,  136 
( lonfucius,  20,  21,  22 

temple  of,  22,  217 
Construction,  (hinese,  198,  220 


317 


3i8 


Index 


(  loolies,  63,  64,  72,  80,  99,  101,239, 

( ierman  lease,  39 

265 

possessions,  39 

<  'oiini >i;mt  fishing,  97 

Government,   system    of    Chinese, 

(  lotton,  imports  of,  153,  161,  164 

27,  130 

Curiosity,  58,  60,  68,  88 

( rraves,  69,  140,  264,  265 

Customs  dues,  155,  157,  163 

Great  Pure  Kingdom,  16 

Maritime,  149,  153,  155,  163,  185, 

Great  Wall,  23,  215,  249,  250 

187,  192,  193 

Guard,  58,  60,  63,  67,  72,  82, 

102, 

native,  154,  192,  193 

118 

peculiar  Chinese,  95 

Gun-boat   83,  90,  92,  145 

Debt  of  China,  184,  186 

Hankow,  45,  100,  104,  151, 

251. 

Dialects,  18 

252,  261,  299 

Canton  Railway,  45,  46,  252 

253 

Education,  105,  137,  308-311 

Hart,  Sir  Robert,  149 

Empress  Dowager,  52,  54,  312 

Highways,  221,  241-244,  245 

Engineering,  Chinese,  198,  217 

History,  Chinese,  19-27 

Etiquette,  21,  84,  145 

Hoang  (Yellow)  Ho,  32,  225 

Examination  hall,  60 

Ho-nan  province,  16 

Examinations,  130 

Hongkong,  37,  42 

Exclusiveness,  106,  134,  142 

commerce  of,  158,  280 

Exports,  Chinese,  152,  153,  154,  160 

Horse  trade,  92 

Horses,  60,  62,  92,  96,  236 

Farm  produce,  58,  80 

Houses,    109,    116,    152,    167, 

212, 

Farming  methods,  96,  220 

213,  216 

Finance,  Chinese,  181-197 

Hsiens  or  districts,  29,  76 

Flags,  72,  74,  143 

magistrates,  29,  76,  77,  82,  84 

Flour,  imports  of,  162 

Hu-nan,  5.  35,  46,  48,  54,  70 

8l, 

Food,  native,  80,  81,  154 

87,  98,  101,  103,  104 

Foreign  concessions  (settlements), 

Governor  of,  52,  81,  83,  88,  1 

68 

42 

population  of,  299 

devils,  71,  119,  145 

Hu-nanese,  anti-foreign,  48,  49 

,  120 

possessions,  36,  43 

Hu-peh,  population  of,  299 

Formosa,  39 

province,  45,  50 

French  concessions  (railway),  255, 

Hydraulics,  219 

257,  262 

possessions,  39,  42 

Imports,  152,  153, 160,  161, 162 

,  164 

Funeral,  Chinese,  68 

Inaccuracy,  123,  293,  294,  297 
Indirectness,  133 

Genghis  Khan,  25,  286,  303 

Inn,  Chinese,  60,  62,  100,  101 

German  concessions  (railway),  253, 

Invasion   of  Europe,  291,  303, 

304, 

254,  256,  257,  262 


30s 


Index 


3T9 


J  vpan,  development  of,  289,  290 
Japanese  War,  39,   104,   142,   185, 

250,  252 
Junks,  55,  90,  113,  227,  229 

Kai-ping  coal-mines,  247 
Kerosene,  35,  153,  175 
Kiung-chow-wan,  42 

Ki  tng  si,  30,  35,  106 
Is i.ki  chow,  39,  40,  41,  255 
Kinder,  C.  W.,  247,  250,  251 
K(  iv  -loon,  37,  42,  254 
Kwang-tung,  46,  50,  101,  109,  170 
population  ot,  294,  300 

Lamps,  175 

iguage,  18 
Lease  of  Chinese  territory,  39 
Li  1  lung-chang,  30,  143 
Li,  unit  of  distance,  123 
Liao-tung  Peninsula,  39 
Liao-tze,  20 
Likin,  57,  156,  157,  192 
Literature.  20 
Liu  Kao-chao,  77,  146,  147 
Liu  Kun-yi,  30 
L01  5S  formation,  34 

Macao,  36,  yj 
Machines,  177,  217,  220 
Manchu  Dynasty,  25,  27 
Manchuria,   17,  39,  163,  164,  255, 

257,  281 
Mandarin  dialect,  18 
Magistrates,  29,  76,  77,  82,  84 
Maps,  <  Ihinese,  125 
Matteo  Ricci,  25 
Me-ling  Pass,  99 
Mencius,  20 
Middle  Kingdom,  16 
Minerals,  35,  49,  51,  98.  116,  171 
Mines  and  mining,  218,  219 


Mini;  1  )\  nasty,  25 

M  ing  tombs,  25 

Mints,  184 

Mob  violence,  119 

Monetary  system,  181 

Mongol  I  >\  nasty,  25 

Mongolia,  17 

Movement,  appreciation  of,  217 

Nan-king,  23,  25,  253 
Nan-ling  Range,  48,  54,  98,  112, 123 
Ne  ti  'l  ian  mi  inks,  24 
New  Year,  71,  103,  117 
Niu-chwang,  164,  249,  256 
Nomenclature,    lack   ol    fixed,     16, 

126 
North  River,  37,  98,  99,  1  [2 

Officiai  corruption,  1 5  |,  156,  189, 

192,  194,  196,  311 
(  Mlii  ials,  76,  308 

ignorance  of,  131,  138 

incompetence  of,  121 

powers  of,  121,  312 

salaries  of,  77 
Opium,  153 
<  >pium  War,  37 

Pagoda,  209,  213 

Parsons  <  lap,  123 

Patriotism,  lack  of,  142,  314 

Pawnshops,  109 

Pe-chi-li,  Gulf  of,  33,  42 

Pei  (North)  Ho.  37,  98,  99,  112 

Peking,  25,  27,  46,  60,  215,  250,  251, 

252 
s\  ndicate,  254 
Pekinge  e  dialect,  18 
Placards,  66,  68,  74 
Point  ol  v  iew,  1  ,1 
Population,    17,   51,    83,   116,   291, 

303 


3-° 


Index 


Port  Arthur,  39,  41,  255,  281 
Portuguese  possession,  36 
Postal  sen  ice,  43,  195 
Precedent,  importance  of,  130 

Prefects,  29,  76 
Printing  discovered,  24 
Proclamation,  66 
Provinces,  organization  of,  29 
Pumps,  219 

Qi  EUE,  significance  of,  27 

Railway,  Chinese  Eastern,  249 

concessions,     American,     44-53, 

252,  253,  257 
concessions,    Belgian,    252,   253, 

256,  257,  262 
concessions,     British,    253,    254, 

256,  257,  262 
concessions,    French,    255,    257, 

262 
concessions,    German,   253,  254, 

256,  257,  262 
concessions,    Russian,   255,   256, 

257,  262 

concessions,  terms  of,  258-261 
construction,  271,  273,  283 
electric,  279 

equipment,  248,  273,  277,  283 
gauges,  280,  281 
Hang-chow-Shanghai,  254 
Hankow-Canton,    45,     252,    262, 

281 
Hankow-Peking,   252,    253,    262, 

281 
Imperial  Chinese,   187,  188,  250, 

251,  261,  265,  275,  277,  281 
Kai-ping,  247 
Nan-king-Shanghai,  253 
possibilities,  283,  284 
tariffs,  277-279 
traffic,  275-280 


Railway,  Trans-Siberian,  163,  188, 
249,  251,  255,  281 

Wu-sung,  246,  249,  250,  281 
Railways,  245-285 

constructed,  250,  253,  256 

Director-General,  250 

effect  of,  193,  194 

Indian,  267  269,  277,  279,  281 

Japanese,  269-279 

opposition  to,  263-266 

political  aspect  of,  261-263 

primary,  251,  253,  254 

revenue    of,    188,    266-269,    273- 
277 

secondary,  254 

statistics  of,  256,  257,  275 

to  Burma,  262 
Reform,  54,  169,  196 
Religion,  23,  105,  139,  308,  309 
Revenue,    Government,    185,     187, 
192,  195 

Government,  can  be  increased, 
156,  193 
Rice,  153,  162,  172 
Rice-fields,  241,  242 
Richtofen,  Baron,  49 
Rivers,  importance  of,  223 

improvement   of,  221,   225,    226, 

245 
navigation  of,  114,  222,  231 
Road.     See  Highway 
Rocket  of  China,  248,  249 
Russia,  aims  of,  163 
Russian  concessions  (railway),  255, 
256,  257,  262 
interests,  255,  261,  262,  263 
possessions,  39 

Sails,  91,  229,  231 

Salt,  190 

Sam-shui,  112,  113,  254 

Sam-pans,  234 


Index 


321 


Shanghai,  33.  43,  149,  151,  154.  194. 

251,  261 
Shan-si,  34.  35 

Shan-tung,  34,   41,   163,   254,    263, 

295 
Shao-chou,  112,  116,  118 
Sheng   Tajen,   7,    46,   66,  87,    119, 

253.  309 
Shen-si,  34,  35,  254 
Shi 'i>.  '  Chinese,  83,  89,  169 
Siang   River,   50,   51,   54,   90,   103, 

104,  105,  224 
Silk,  153.  170,  172 
Slipper  boat,  234,  235 
Soldiers,  58,  60,  63,  74,  87,  103  . 
Squeezes,  78,  196 

"-tition,  115,  264,  309 
Sz-chuen,  29,  35,  49,  191,  21,; 

Tael,  57,  181 
Talien-wan,  39 
Tang  I  >ynasty,  24 
Taoism,  20 

I    <  itais,  29,  193 
Taxation,  system  of,  156,  187,  189, 

190,  194,  197 
Tea,  58,  153,  170,  172 
Telegraph  system,  104 

Temples,  22,  60,  62,  139,  140 

Tibet,  17 

Tien-tsin,    151,    247,    249,  250,  251, 

252,  253,  261 
Tong-king,  39,  42,  255.  263 
Tools,  Chinese,  175 
Topography,  32 
Transit  Pass.  156.  157 
Treaty  ports,  148,  149 


'I  sm  1  )ynasty,  22 
Tsung-li  Yamen,  28 

l  Fniform,  military,  71 
United  States  commerce,  158,  160, 
c6i,  162,  172,  283 
c  ( msuls,  [74,  179 


\  11  1  kov,  29,  30,  58,  66,  72, 
Victoria,  37 


86 


Wages,  ran-  of,  275,  286,287,  29°- 

291 
Wall,  Great,  23,  215,  249,  250 
Walls,  citj .  214 
Watchmen,  92,  129 
Weapons,  74,  91 
Wei-hai-wei,  37,  42 
Wesl   River,  112 
Whang-Poo  Kiang,  33 
Wheat,  172 

Wheelbarrow,  236,  237 
Women,  95,  96,  128 

on  junks,  57,  231 
Wu-shui,  112,  113 
Wu-sung,  246 
Wu  Ting-fang,  7,  45 

Yamen,  62,  67,  86 

runner,  65,  67 
Yang-tze  Kiang,  33,  54,  58,  98, 100, 

151,  222,  225,  252 
Valley,  32,  42,  98,  99,  151 
Yellow   Peril,  291,  305 

River,  32 
Yo-chou,  81 
Yun-nan,  255,  262,  300 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


iPR  o  2  1968 
RL 


liS.     AUG  6    71 


JUNES'0 


n 


$€:h)\^GE-URL 

JN  2  6 1979 


'orm  L9-32m-8,'58(5876s4)444 


3   1158  00467   21 


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AA    000  980  169    7 


